by Glenn Tschimpke
Staff Writer
Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, Inc. recently expanded its services to better help small claims litigants by offering a Small Claims Clinic.
Held monthly at the South Gate Plaza Annex on Beach Boulevard, the free clinic is designed to indoctrinate courtroom neophytes on the basics of small claims proceedings.
“We send people over to the courthouse and they usually end up at the clerk of court’s desk asking for advice,” said Legal Aid attorney Mitchell Ritchie, who teaches the class. “Rather than send them to the clerk of court to fend for themselves, we thought we’d help them out.”
Ritchie taught the inaugural Small Claims Clinic last week to an audience of six — an admittedly small crowd but he is optimistic that its popularity will grow.
Roughly 50 of Legal Aid’s clients appear in small claims court every month. Much of their knowledge of the court system is based on TV interpretations like “Judge Judy” or “Judge Miles Lane.” The Small Claims Clinic strives to separate fact from fiction.
Ritchie starts class by showing a video tape narrated by Duval County Judge Pauline Drayton-Harris. It runs through several small claims scenarios litigants are likely to encounter in a series of brief vignettes featuring local county judges. Courtroom protocol and etiquette are stressed in each scene.
After the video, Ritchie takes students on a step-by-step small claims process, from filing to pretrial to discovery to final judgment and all points in between. Students are taught how to subpoena witnesses, how to submit evidence, the implications of an absent witness and how to collect settlements.
“A lot of this has to be done the right way,” he explained. “You can’t just go to court.”
After the presentation, Ritchie is open to questions and is willing to help as much as he can. He cannot, however, answer specific questions about specific cases, which could be considered legal advice.
The next scheduled Small Claims Clinic is May 9 at 10:30 a.m. at the South Gate Plaza Annex.