Thanks to a grant from The Florida Bar Foundation, the Bar’s Appellate Practice Section has expanded is Pro Se Appellate Handbook into Spanish and French Creole versions, and is issuing printed copies in English, Spanish, and French Creole.
Late last year, the section finished the English version of the pro se handbook and made it available online, where parties representing themselves on an appeal could refer to it and even download and print it.
Section Chair Steve Brannock said feedback indicated it was a success, not only in helping litigants but relieving court and clerk personnel from requests for information and assistance on appeals. But that success soon gave way to requests for translations to serve Florida’s diverse population.
In December, the Foundation approved a $67,443.75 grant for the translations.
“Talking with the members of the Legal Services Corporation, the Cuban American Bar Association, and the folks who represent a lot of the Haitian immigrants in Miami, they strongly recommended we get this translated,” said Brannock. “There is a strong demand for this from folks from Latin America and Haiti.”
“The pro se (litigants) like it. The courts are thrilled to have it because with the budget cuts in the court system, we don’t have the staff attorney time (to help pro se parties),” said Dorothy Easley, the section member who served as editor for the handbook. “We’ve never had the time, but now with budget cuts, we really don’t have the time.
“The courts are not required to spend inordinate amounts of time on appeals that have not been perfected.”
Aside from the translations, the foundation grant will allow printing of the 238-page handbook so it can be distributed to court clerks, public law libraries, prison law libraries, and other accessible venues. Brannock said some parties prefer to have a hard copy rather than peruse the manual online.
Easley and Brannock said it’s hard to overvalue the utility of the handbook. Brannock noted that some estimates show half of all appellate cases involve a pro se party, while Easley said prison inmates have a constitutional due process right only for their direct appeal. It will also be helpful, she said, for those representing themselves on family law-related appeals.
“These handbooks go a long way to servicing the citizens of Florida, servicing the incarcerated, and servicing the courts, which we know have a more limited budget than ever this year,” Easley said.
The section was scheduled to formally present printed copies of the handbook to justices of the Florida Supreme Court June 19 at the Bar’s Annual Convention during the justices’ yearly question-and-answer session sponsored by the section.
The handbook does not give legal advice on proceeding with an appeal but rather sticks to nuts-and-bolts issues on meeting deadlines, perfecting the record, and other such technical issues. It warns up front that, “This handbook is not intended to be a substitute for advice by an experienced appellate lawyer on how to handle an appellate matter.” It also cautions that courts will not grant any advantages to pro se litigants, that the losing side of an appeal could be ordered to pay the other side’s costs and attorneys’ fees, and that, represented or not, all parties must follow the Rules of Judicial Administration and the Rules of Appellate Procedure.
A copy of the manual can be found on the section’s Web site at http://www.flabarappellate.org.
— Courtesy Florida Bar News