Just start

I think it was Woody Allen who said, "Eighty percent of success is just showing up."  Good thought since most people who need legal help think they're so unqualified that they can't even help themselves.

Take, for example, the lady who came into my law library the other day.  Seems she lives next to a house and they share a common driveway.  In fact, she and he both have a common easement.  For those that don't know, an EASEMENT is a right to cross or otherwise use someone else's land for a specified purpose.  In this case, she needed the common road to access her house.

The problem was that the other guy was acting like a jerk by blocking her access to the driveway.  He'd park his car in the middle of the road or block it with chairs and rubbish.  It got so bad that when she had to call an ambulance one evening, they couldn't get through because of the rubbish blocking access.

When lady had had enough, she called the police but they said it was a civil matter and couldn't do anything to help her. So, she figured she'd write a letter to the court and explain the situation.  That didn't do anything.  So, she decided to go to the courthouse and see if someone could help her.  They didn't/wouldn't but suggested they go to the law library.

That's where I came in.  Lady walks up to me, regales me with her tale of woe, says she can't afford an attorney and bemoans the fact that she doesn't know what else to do.  I tell her she has two options.  OPTION ONE: remove the rubbish and ignore the jerk neighbor's rantings.  OPTION TWO: File legal process against jerk neighbor.  Lady is distraught and says she wouldn't know where to begin.  Good thing she's in my law library because, as it turns out, I do know where she needs to start.

Quick as a flash, I suggest lady take a look at:

• California Forms of Pleading and Practice (Lexis, Vol. 20, Chp. 240)
• Miller & Starr California Real Estate (TR, Vol 6, Chp. 15)
• Corpus Juris Secundum (TR, Vol. 28A, Easements)

and before you knew it, lady knew most everything she needed to know about her situation like the difference between dominant and subservient easements and whether to file a permanent injunction or a complaint to quiet title. Who knew she could figure out what to do and how to do it? Turns out her local county law Librarian (i.e. me) did. I knew she could do it because she showed up. Imagine that!

When next you have a problem of a legal nature and can't seem to scrape enough coins together to get a lawyer to represent you, why not take the plunge and head over to your local county law library and see what your local county law Librarian can do to help you get out of your mess.