Name: Where Do I Even Start and What Does This Even Mean?: Parsing Legal Processes and Procedures for the Pro Se Litigant
Start: 2026-09-04T09:00:00-0500
End: 2026-09-04T10:00:00-0500

Where Do I Even Start and What Does This Even Mean?: Parsing Legal Processes and Procedures for the Pro Se Litigant

Friday September 4, 2026 9:00am - 10:00am CDT

Conference Room 301

Many low-income Texans—to say nothing of nonlawyers in general, regardless of their income level—face reading comprehension barriers that prevent them from fully accessing the civil justice system. TexasLawHelp is often the first place that people land when they’re trying to understand their legal matter. While Beacon Law tries to mitigate the potentially harmful effects the legal system can have on unhoused and indigent clients, their resources—like the resources of all legal aids—are limited. Beacon Law and TexasLawHelp come from slightly different places in legal aid, but both have a lot to share about making legal information accessible.

Explaining complex legal matters issues to legal aid clients presents a challenge. Many U.S. adults read at or below a 6th-grade level, and poverty is associated with lower literacy rates. Legal aid organizations must meet clients where they are—without watering content down to the point of inaccuracy or creating a process that’s too overwhelming for pro se litigants to proceed. The stressors that our populations face further complicate their ability to understand complex legal issues.

This presentation will explore ethical considerations and risks, and offer tools, best practices, and pointers for explaining legal concepts in clear, simple language in a way that empowers and educates. By the end of this session, participants will have a better understanding of the importance of plain language in poverty law, along with the legal and ethical considerations. We will teach strategies for putting this knowledge into action (whether in practice or by writing for the public).

Speakers

Martha Beard-Duncan

Managing Attorney, Texas Legal Services Center

Far West Texas native and longtime Austinite Martha Beard-Duncan is managing attorney of TexasLawHelp.org at Texas Legal Services Center. She holds a master’s degree in journalism from Stanford University, earned her JD from the University of Houston Law Center, and majored in English... Read More →