Ira Long Jr., president of the Chattanooga Bar Association, left, speaks about a new public outreach program as people with civil cases check out literature on the table behind him after leaving Judge Bob Moon’s General Sessions Court on Monday.
Staff Photo by Dan Henry/Chattanooga Times Free PressLEGAL HELP CONTACTS
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The Chattanooga Bar Association kicked off a public education outreach Monday for defendants in Sessions Court civil cases.
“We’re here to give you some information on what the procedures are and what your options are,” bar President Ira Long Jr. told a packed courtroom on the second floor of the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Courts building downtown.
When Hamilton County General Sessions Court Judge Bob Moon introduced Long, about double the usual number of defendants were in court for Monday proceedings because courts were closed for Memorial Day last week.
“What you read about 99 percent of the time is on the other side of the building, the criminal side,” Moon told the audience. “We have as much devastation when it comes to the saga of human breakdown on the civil side as the criminal side.”