Located on the 19th floor of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center (CAYMC) exists a relatively unknown service that provides free legal information to those that may not have the means to afford legal representation. Known as the Wayne County Self-Help Center, the floor is staffed by three workers, along with a handful of volunteers, all dedicated to providing legal information to its clients. Abuzz with activity on Mondays and Thursdays, the floor can quickly become busy with clients looking for legal resources and information. It is here that Detroiters can come to get information related to filing for divorce or even a name change free of charge (save for the filing fee at the clerk’s office).
These services are due in part from a push from Michigan Legal Help (MLH), a part of Michigan Statewide Advocacy Services, whose mission is to provide, “accurate and easy to understand legal information.” MLH offers tools to access information related to legal processes in a wide array of matters including, but not limited to, expunging criminal convictions, farmworker employment rights, or even creating a will. MLH also allows users to produce the forms needed to file specific legal actions. The website provides users with access to “Do-It-Yourself” tools which are followed by their corresponding form (divorce, custody, etc).
So where exactly do the self-help centers, like the one found in Wayne County, factor into MLH’s mission to, “educate the public about their rights and responsibilities under the law and to help website visitors navigate the court system properly and efficiently”? Legal self-help centers that work in conjunction with MLH provide, what they call, navigators to help the residents of their respective communities with wayfinding on the MLH website and providing legal information in regards to court processes and practices. MLH’s legal self-help centers are also equipped with the computers, printers, and copiers to help users access their online tools and information. It is important to note that neither MLH’s tools nor any of their legal self-help centers are stand-ins for a lawyer and act in a fully informational capacity.
With many residents of Detroit and the greater Tri-County Area lacking the means to afford expensive lawyers, MLH seeks to meet an apparent growing need for legal information and advocacy. MLH launched their website in August of 2012 in tandem with their self-help centers (with the one in CAYMC being one of the first). According to the Michigan Legal Help Report to the Legislature (2024), MLH has assisted with the opening of 60+ self-help clinics in 32 different counties, ranging from Southeast Michigan to the Upper Peninsula. According to the same report, MLH has seen a consistent uptick in usage of their “Do-It-Yourself” tools, reporting “[A] more than 14 percent increase from 2023, and a nearly 30 percent increase from 2021.” In the same report, they claimed to have had 2.1 million visitors to their website in 2024 while touting a respectable rate of satisfaction, “[N]early 80 percent of users would recommend the services [MLH’s tools and information] to friends or family.” Increased use and visitation of MLH’s website and tools indicates a need for more legal self-help centers and self-advocacy resources.
In an interview with Lynn Reeves, the Deputy Law Librarian / Court Service Navigator Supervisor, MDL was able to get an inside perspective on MLH’s tools and the increased need for self-advocacy tools. Ms. Reeves has worked at CAYMC for 37 years, with nine of those 37 years being at the Wayne County Legal Self-Help Center. The following interview has been edited to ensure clarity and conciseness while maintaining the integrity of the original content. Supplementary information has been provided where necessary in italics.
MLH has reported a growing need for their services, seeing a 30% uptake in the use of their “Do-It-Yourself” tools online. Having heard this, do you believe that the Metro Detroit area could use more clinics?
L.R. : I do. We have, that I am aware of, we have four. One is in Southwest, Detroit; there’s a clinic on Grand River, not too far from Cass Tech; and they have a help center in the 36th District building on Gratiot.
According to Michigan Legal Help’s website, MLH has opened four Legal Self-Help Centers in the Detroit area. 19th Floor, Room 1911 at CAYMC, the Second Floor, Room 2E of the 36th District Court, the Fourth Floor, Suite 4100 at MiSide off Michigan Ave., and another location at 1700 Waterman St. that MLH’s website seems to have consolidated under the MiSide location off Michigan Ave.
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So you’ve experienced this increased need for your services?
L.R. : Yes.
How large of an increase would you say?
L.R. : So in 2023, our numbers were around 6,300 to 6,500. Last year our numbers were like 9,300 to 9,500, so we have increased almost not quite double, but maybe a little bit closer. So that was over 3,000 more people.
And those are, just to specify, approximations of the numbers, right?
L.R. : Yes.
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Access to legal information and legal advocacy services are a major issue in plenty of areas, right? Detroit being one of them?
L.R. : Yes.
If you could pitch one solution out there to increase access to legal information and legal tools, what would it be?
L.R. : We need more centers. There is definitely a need for help [more help centers] because people are not aware of their legal rights, or know that we’re there to assist with motions, who are going through divorces or custody and don’t know what they’re doing so their motion will get denied. We lead them in the right way, to get them in front of a judge or a referee.
It is important to note here that none of the information that can be received through the Wayne County Legal Help Center is legal advice. Ms. Reeves and MLH emphasized the fact that neither their tools nor navigators served as substitutes for lawyers but instead provided legal information for those looking to self-advocate.
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A lot of your tools, all the computers here, run off MLH services. Would you say that the MLH tools are easy for clients to understand?
L.R. : That’s kind of a tough question. I’m going to say this, my first meeting that I had with the board of the Michigan Legal Help team, there was a lady there and she was one of the ones who initially started [with MLH] and she said that they created the website so that a sixth grader would be able to do it. I think sometimes when people come to us they have so much on their mind and they already got a lot going on and they just sometimes don’t understand [MLH’s information or tools] because their mind is just wandering here and there. But it is [use of MLH’s tools] very simple, and the good thing about it is if you come to us and you have a question about something you don’t understand, we will help you with it. We will try to explain it to you so that you can understand. Sometimes you have people who don’t have a sixth grade education and we will try to help all that we get.
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Would you say that the Wayne County Legal Self-Help Center is successful in terms of assisting the Detroit community?
L.R. : I would.
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What would you say is the biggest challenge in running a legal self-help center?
L.R. : Not having enough help. I would say not having enough help. That’s why we have these wonderful Wayne State University interns that come to help us. Yeah, we don’t have enough help. And I will share this, before we had a third person, it was just two of us doing it and it was rough. I think with everyone coming to help [volunteers], it makes it better.
It is important to note that strides have been made to recruit more volunteer workers, specifically for the Wayne County Legal Self-Help Center. In an article published by Detroit Legal News Publishing, Michigan’s State Court Administrative Office awarded $500k to 15 legal help centers in Michigan, $30,500k of which was used to, “[H]ire a part-time volunteer coordinator” (among other upgrades to its facility). Ms. Reeves’ mention of “Wayne State University Interns,” is in reference to a program started in September of 2024 in which CAYMC coordinated with Wayne State to provide students with the opportunity to work in the Wayne County Legal Self-Help Center.
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Would you say that these other clinics [opened with the help of MLH] experience the same issues?
L.R. : Yes. So what we usually do, if any of us have questions like, the 36th District, they usually do civil and traffic and landlord tenant, somebody might come to them for divorce or child support and they’ll call us and say “I’m sending somebody your way” or they’ll ask us questions to help them further along.
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If there is an issue with any sort of MLH forms or documents, do they [MLH] address these issues quickly and concisely when you bring them to their attention?
L.R. : Yes, they do. Most of the time they do, they can do it quickly. Sometimes they, they’ll have a little trouble but they generally get back with people and make them know their answers.
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What would you say is the most gratifying part of your work?
L.R. : Just knowing that we helped somebody get to where they needed to be. That’s the most satisfying [part], knowing that I helped somebody.
With the combined efforts of MLH to provide easy to access, concise legal information and tools along with their coordination with their legal-self help navigators, self-representation in Michigan has become significantly more attainable for those that do not have the means to afford a lawyer. It’s safe to say that so long as Michiganders are looking for the means to self-advocate, MLH and its dedicated network of self-help centers and navigators will be there to help.
Michigan Legal Help’s website and resources can be reached through the following link: https://michiganlegalhelp.org/
Readers looking to support Michigan Legal Help can donate to the organization through the following link: https://michiganlegalhelp.org/make-donation