People’s Law School offers free courses on UNLV’s campus

If your life's a legal mess, or you're just plain curious about the law, a series of free courses being offered at UNLV might be right up your alley.

The People's Law School is sponsored by the nonprofit groups the Nevada Foundation for Consumer Education and the Nevada Justice Association.

It will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. each Tuesday from April 24 to May 15 in the auditorium in Greenspun Hall on UNLV's campus.

Sarah Dahl, the event coordinator with the NJA, said the event's original intent when it was founded in the 1980s was to help educate voters about the law and the legislative process.

The event has grown since then to cover topics as diverse as divorce and custody law to bankruptcy and estate planning.

"It's not like you're going to be able to go in and represent yourself" in court, she said. "But we do provide particularly extensive written materials to allow people to be better educated."

NJA officials said the courses will cover foreclosure mediation, bankruptcy, elder law and estate planning, medical malpractice, worker's compensation, divorce and custody, employee rights, and employer obligations.

Dahl said the elderly and low-income people have been the course's most involved participants in the past.

The courses also have proved popular with small-business owners and those involved in divorce and custody disputes.

She said participation has fallen since the advent of the Internet, with about 150 registrants last year and 80 people completing all four courses.

Foreclosure and bankruptcy were added as topics in 2010, Dahl said, a reflection of reality in Nevada.

For those who cannot attend, the sessions will be videotaped and broadcast at a later date and will be posted to YouTube and on the group's website, www.nevadajustice.org.

For more information, including a schedule, visit the website or call Dahl at (775) 885-7174.

Contact reporter Richard Lake at rlake@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0307.