FEATURE HELP PRO SE FOR LITIGANTS It Takes a Village By Sheldon Krantz I am one very lucky senior lawyer. After spending more than 20 years as a white-collar criminal defense lawyer at DLA Piper - and serving as a law professor and law school dean prior to that - I had the opportunity to help develop and direct the nonprofit DC Affordable Law Firm (DCALF). Georgetown University Law Center, Arent Fox LLP, and DLA Piper created DCALF in 2015 to represent a population largely overlooked up to that time: modestincome D.C. residents who need legal assistance in civil matters, but do not qualify for free legal aid and cannot afford the rates D.C. lawyers normally charge. iStock