San Francisco — Legal advice

Source: https://sf.courts.ca.gov/system/files/general/2836-legaladviceguidelines.pdf

Legal Advice Guidelines

San Francisco Superior Court Mission Statement To assure equal access, fair treatment, and the just and efficient resolution of disputes for all people asserting their rights under the law.

We will be happy to help you if we can. However, we are allowed to help you only in certain ways since we want to be fair to everyone. This is a list of some things the court staff can and cannot do for you. We can explain and answer questions about We cannot tell you whether or not you should bring how the court works. your case to court. We can provide you the number of the local We cannot tell what words to use in your court lawyer referral service, legal aid papers. However, we will check your program and other services where you papers for completeness. For example, can get legal advice. we check for signatures, notarization, correct county name, correct case number and presence of attachments. We can give you general information about We cannot tell you what to say in court. court rules, procedures and practices. We can provide court schedules and We cannot give you an opinion about what will information on how to get a case happen if you bring your case to court. scheduled. We can give you information from your case We cannot talk to the judge for you. file. We can provide you with court forms that are We cannot let you talk to the judge outside of court. available, We can usually answer questions about court We cannot change an order signed by a judge. deadlines and how to compute them.

Court staff do not know the answers to all questions about court rules, procedures and practices. We have been instructed not to answer questions if we do not know the correct answer. For additional information, please contact a lawyer or your local law library, or check the California Courts Self-Help Center Web site at https://selfhelp.courts.ca.gov/.

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