Arizona Supreme Court creates program to expand legal help to vulnerable populations

The Arizona Supreme Court has created a new program to help expand access to legal assistance to vulnerable populations.
Justice Ann Scott Timmer signed the order creating the Legal Services Authorized Community Justice Worker Program. The people it hires aren’t lawyers, but they are trained to provide legal help on civil matters.
Timer says the program is specifically designed to provide assistance on consumer issues, debt relief, public benefits, unemployment and tenant-landlord disputes.
“By the time somebody gets to court on landlord-tenant, they’re done. There’s nothing really left to do, which is a problem. If you can get to somebody early to give you the advice or to negotiate something with the landlord or that kind of thing, you have an opportunity to avoid that kind of thing,” Timmer said.