For more than 20 years, Richard Alderman has devoted his career to educating the public about the law — on the basis that not knowing your legal rights is the same as not having any.

This attitude has gained Alderman, director of the Center for Consumer Law at the University of Houston Law Center, the moniker “The People’s Lawyer.” Through television, radio, newspapers, books, and the Internet, Alderman offers legal information to the public about everything from tenant’s rights to wills.

“It’s pretty neat (to be known as ‘The People’s Lawyer’) — I’ve been doing it a long time,” Alderman said. “Law professors spend a lot of time teaching, we don’t get to spend a lot of time helping the public. It allows me to help people.”

Alderman said the idea of educating the public on the law first started back in 1979 when he taught a seminar and assigned his students to pick a law to explain to the layperson. He realized how valuable this information could be to the public and the idea grew from there. He started out on KPRC-TV, Channel 2, in Houston in 1980 as “The People’s Lawyer,” explaining the law as it related to the public’s questions.

Richard Alderman and cameraman Paul Burks.

In 1991, Alderman moved to KTRK-TV, Channel 13, where he continues to be known as “The People’s Lawyer” and appears twice a week during the news, providing legal information in response to viewer mail or regarding current events.

Also, for the past 15 years, Alderman appears in four to eight programs a year for the local Houston PBS affiliate, KUHT-TV, Channel 8. Each half-hour call-in show, “Know Your Rights,” is devoted to a different area of law. Because these programs are very popular and get hundreds of phone calls from viewers, Alderman has a number of volunteer attorneys staffing the phone lines.

Alderman has also worked with the Texas Young Lawyers Association for the past 12 years on a weekly series of consumer law PSA segments, called “It’s the Law,” which are syndicated to radio and TV stations in 14 Texas cities, and are similar to “The People’s Lawyer” spots.

“It was a good match — it’s the kind of public service that TYLA does,” Alderman said. “It’s been a good partnership.”

In addition, he writes a syndicated column which appears in several Texas newspapers. He has also authored 14 books and numerous articles. Alderman answers a large volume of emails to his website (http://www.peopleslawyer.net/) each day.

“It’s not unusual to get 40,000 to 50,000 hits on my website in a month,” Alderman said. “I answer, on average, 25 to 50 emails a day.”

And after all these years, what are people still asking?

“It’s really across the board,” Alderman said. “There are a lot of questions dealing with death, dying, and wills. There are also a lot that deal with neighborly problems — questions about fences and trees are right up there.”

Richard Alderman and video editor Dan Best.

Alderman said he tries to give the public legal information that they can use as it relates to their problems.

“Once people know the law then people start talking it out,” Alderman said. “When you know what the law is you can avoid a lot of disputes.”

Alderman said most of the time people requesting his help just want to know what the law is, they are not asking for legal advice. For this reason, he has never used a legal disclaimer before any of his TV and radio segments.

“I guess there are always risks, but I think people understand that I’m not acting as their attorney,” Alderman said. “I don’t think people view me as a substitute for their lawyer. They view me as a way to get information — information they can use so they can make decisions.

“I think they appreciate the information. I think lawyers should be more willing to help people. We are the ones who possess this information. Lawyers are so concerned about the public image of lawyers, but we can change our image by changing our conduct.”

And Alderman has been able to find others who feel the same way. The People’s Law School is a free, biannual event, originated by Alderman, designed to help make the law “user friendly” to the layperson. Houston-area judges, attorneys, and professors volunteer their time to teach classes to enrollees.

“The number of people who come to these programs for information is astonishing,” Alderman said. “I hope every one of them leaves with a better understanding of the law and a positive impression of lawyers.”

It is this devotion to public service that has earned Alderman two gavel awards from the American Bar Association and two from the State Bar of Texas — the highest honor given for media work and educating the public about the law. Also, in 1999, the mayor and city council of Houston declared Oct. 16 as Richard Alderman Day in recognition of his contributions to the city.

“I think it’s a worthwhile public service that I don’t intend to stop,” Alderman said.