Offer free advice.

In an unprecedented partnership between private lawyers and state courts, those forced to represent themselves in battles over child support, paternity and guardianship because they can't pay for a lawyer may now receive free assistance two days a week at 330 Jay St.

"Ethically, the court cannot give advice," said the city's chief Family Court Justice Joseph Lauria. "What we're doing is making available those who can give legal advice to court litigants. Three million people a year come into the family courthouses of the city. The litigant population is high and needy."

Led by the Greenberg Traurig law firm, attorneys from Citigroup, Strook & Strook & Lavan; Reed Smith; Dechert and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe have been volunteering since Nov. 2 for the "Self-Represented Legal Services Project" at Brooklyn Family Court. So far, about 100 people have taken advantage of it, said lawyer Bill Silverman.

"Family Court is truly the people's court," he said. "There are life decisions being made in congested courtrooms. People are simply not aware of their rights and don't understand their rights."

Silverman said very few among thousands who can't afford attorneys actually get a judge to appoint one for free. Most lawyers, he said, are just too busy to take on many pro bono cases.

"This provides us with an opportunity to not take on a small handful of cases but to help dozens or hundreds of people," he said. "It'd be better for everyone to have lawyers, but in this half-hour, we can sort of do a triage and help as many people as we can. It does use resources in a very efficient way."

Chief Justice Judith Kaye hopes the pilot partnership in a family court that handles a third of the city's cases will eventually spread to other boroughs.

Volunteer attorneys have been on site Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. for nearly two months. "It has been really exciting," Lauria said. "It was a good idea conceptually and in reality, it is playing out well."