Michigan Legal Help (MLH) provides free online legal information, tools, and resources to people facing civil legal issues in Michigan through its nationally-recognized michiganlegalhelp.org website. The site is used by millions of people each year to help them access needed legal information and resources, understand their legal rights and options, and get connected to services in their area.
MLH exists because, more and more, people are navigating civil legal issues by themselves. In courthouses today, only a quarter of civil cases have attorneys for both sides. MLH works to address this crisis by creating free online legal resources to help people understand their rights and options, how to access and fill out the forms they need, and understand the steps they need to take after filling out their forms. MLH also operates the Guide to Legal Help, where people can get personalized resources based on where they live and their situation, connecting them to MLH content, legal resources, and information about community programs.
Recognizing that part of the justice gap is that people may not know how or whether to seek legal resources, MLH also provides statewide training and technical assistance to self-help centers across the state. These centers, located in courthouses, libraries, and community organizations, are places where people facing legal issues can go to get one-on-one help using the MLH website and other self-help resources. MLH also runs its Community Legal Connection Program, which partners with organizations and agencies where people are already going for help in their communities and training those service providers to better recognize when people they are working with are facing a legal issue, and connect them to appropriate resources. Since 2025, the CLC Program has partnered with organizations and agencies across the state serving veterans, domestic violence survivors, people seeking employment, as well as the general public through partnerships with local libraries.
MLH also works closely with state and national partners to make the civil legal system more accessible and equitable to people navigating legal issues without an attorney. MLH’s Program Director, Nora Ryan, is the Vice Chair of the Michigan Justice for All Commission, and MLH staff play important roles in the Commission’s working groups. MLH also works on state commissions and boards to help make policy changes to make the legal system easier to navigate for self-represented litigants.
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Nora Ryan is the Program Director of Michigan Legal Help. Nora has over fifteen years of professional experience with direct representation, state and local policy work, and work with community organizations. Nora joined Michigan Legal Help in 2021 where she has served as a staff attorney, supervising attorney, and her current role as Program Director. Nora also serves as the Vice Chair of the Michigan Justice for All Commission. After graduating from law school, Nora was awarded a Skadden Fellowship to work at Impact for Equity in Chicago. There she worked on city- and state-level advocacy on affordable housing and public safety issues. She then served as a law clerk to the Hon. Laurie J. Michelson in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, after which she represented clients in state and federal civil rights cases. Nora is a graduate of Carleton College and Harvard Law School.