Report: Roadmap for Implementing a Successful Unbundled Program (Talia 2005)

This paper provides a case study based on the experience in Contra Costa County, California, as well as other jurisdictions. The purpose of this article is to create a roadmap of the essential and nonessential but desirable components of a successful limited scope program, utilizing successful existing models so that lawyers wishing to implement the concept for the first time in their jurisdictions have the benefit of the considerable work which has gone before. Through trial and error over a period of several years, a program was developed which has proven adaptable to urban, suburban, semi-rural and rural areas, and which can significantly reduce the numbers of self-represented litigants, while providing an expanded and profitable client base for attorneys, a referral outlet for legal aid overflow, and a recruiting tool for pro bono programs.