ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Maryland's chief judge says the state's judiciary is helping more people who can't afford legal counsel to better represent themselves in civil legal matters.
Judge Mary Ellen Barbera gave her State of the Judiciary Address on Wednesday.
She says since 2015 the Maryland Judiciary has funded four additional self-help centers, phone and online chat services and educational videos that provide legal advice for matters in the district and circuit courts.
Barbera says attorneys at self-help centers assisted nearly 71,000 litigants by remote means and 144,000 people overall in the last fiscal year.
She also says Maryland's Electronic Courts system is being used by 20 of the state's 24 jurisdictions. The state's largest four jurisdictions are scheduled to be online by 2021.
