Legal Information v. Legal Advice  As part of its 2012 Strategic
Plan, the Access to Justice Commission undertook various efforts
to assist self-represented litigants in navigating the court
system. The Commission declared it would create a policy clearly
distinguishing between legal information and legal advice to
provide guidance to court staff, clerks and attorneys assisting
in self-help centers. While working on this project, the
Commission determined that general guidelines are needed, not
just for the groups listed above, but for any person assisting
with initiatives to help self-represented litigants or who
regularly are sought out by self-represented litigants for legal
information.  The Self-Represented Litigants Advisory Committee
has developed the following general principles to help
differentiate between providing legal advice and legal
information. The Commission hopes that these guidelines will
provide all those who interact with self-represented litigants
with the knowledge to be able to draw t