Where to go for affordable help

If you don’t belong to a prepaid legal services plans, no worries. There are plenty of ways to find affordable legal help.

Here are some of them:

Free consultations

Staffers at the Los Angeles County Bar Assn.’s Lawyer Referral Service can direct callers to 500 local practitioners who provide free half-hour consultations and sometimes discount their rates for additional work. “A great many people just don’t know if they have a legal problem,” said Patricia Holt, who heads the service. “It’s very nice to be able to speak to a lawyer for a half-hour and get an idea of whether it’s worth hiring someone.”

(213) 243-1525, www.smartlaw.org

Online marketplace

Lawdragon.com, which bills itself as an online legal marketplace, rates the lawyers in its database, factoring in an attorney’s accomplishments and evaluations from peers and clients. Users can search for lawyers by location and specialty, read ratings from previous clients and submit ratings of their own. Some reviewers note the fees they paid, giving potential clients a basis for comparison.

(213) 223-2420, www.lawdragon.com

Pro bono service

Nearly 100 pro bono groups in Southern California provide free or low-cost legal services to residents who can’t afford private representation. Many of them are senior citizens and immigrants who are victims of predatory lenders, real estate or consumer scams, or identity theft. Services are free if your household income falls below a certain level; the level for a family of four, for example, is $41,500 a year.

At Public Counsel, the largest of these groups, staff lawyers, paralegals and social workers, along with a roster of volunteer lawyers, helped about 26,000 clients last year, said President Dan Grunfeld.

(213) 385-2977, www.publiccounsel.org

Other pro bono groups include:

* Bet Tzedek

(323) 939-0506, (818) 769-0136; www.bettzedek.org

* Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles

(800) 399-4529, www.lafla.org

* Legal Aid Society of Orange County

(800) 834-5001, www.legal-aid.com

Do it yourself

Of course, you can always go the do-if-yourself route, as many people do. At least one party represents him- or herself in 80% of divorce cases filed in Los Angeles County and in 90% of eviction matters, said Kathleen Dixon, who oversees the Los Angeles County Superior Court’s self-help clinics. Self-representation is also common when it comes to name changes or establishing guardianship.

“People are smart enough to understand these issues if they’re explained in English,” said Mary Randolph, vice president of Nolo.com, which publishes legal self-help books and software.

Here are some alternatives for those who would rather go it alone -- or mostly alone:

* Lawyers and paralegals at nine Los Angeles courthouses and in Superior Courts around the state provide free one-on-one assistance with evictions, restraining orders and other legal problems.

(213) 893-9754, www.lasuperiorcourt.org

* Callers to the SmartLaw telephone help line, a service of the Los Angeles County Bar Assn., can hear free automated messages in English and Spanish on 200 legal topics, such as adopting a child from abroad and incorporating a business. The messages can also be heard online.

(213) 243-1500, www.smartlaw.org

Dispute resolution

Dispute-resolution agencies aim to keep you away from the courthouse by bringing adversaries together with a trained facilitator. “Mediation empowers people to control their own outcome without having it imposed externally,” said Tobi Inlender, executive director of Dispute Resolution Services, a project of the Los Angeles County Bar Assn. and the Southland’s oldest provider of such services. The process can be more cost-effective than a court battle.

The major providers include:

* Dispute Resolution Services

(213) 896-6533, www.lacba.org/showpage.cfmpageid23

* Institute for Conflict Management at the Society of St. Vincent de Paul

(714) 288-5600, www.svdp-center.org

* Ventura Center for Dispute Settlement

(805) 384-1313, www.vcds.bz

Self-help resources

A raft of self-help books, computer software and commercial firms guide consumers through preparing documents, filing forms and representing themselves in probate matters, uncontested divorces and small-claims cases.

Nolo Press began the do-it-yourself revolution, Randolph said. It was started in 1971 by a group of Bay Area legal-aid lawyers frustrated by having to turn away clients who didn’t qualify for free help.

(800) 728-3555, www.nolo.com