To say Carla Ruff felt intimidated is an understatement. Two years ago Ruff, a single mother, was dragged into court by a former tenant, who happened to be a litigation attorney. He wanted Ruff to return the $ 1,500 security deposit he paid when renting the ground floor of her San Francisco Victorian; she claimed he owed her the money for bills and damage he caused. He took her to court. Presenting her case before an impatient judge, Ruff says she was nervous, got bogged down in the details, and consequently lost.

But she decided to fight back. Armed with do-it-yourself legal books on property rights and court procedure, the 52-year-old publishing consultant boiled down her presentation to a few salient points and won on appeal. She got to keep most of the disputed amount. "I felt powerless, and the books put me in command of the situation," says Ruff.

That sense of empowerment is shared by the millions who have turned to self-help legal manuals and online services that aim to put neophytes on an equal footing with those brandishing law degrees and, in the process, save them money. Publishers of self-help legal books and software are reporting brisk sales. More than 132,000 will-writing software kits alone were sold last year. "It's a little like people getting their hands on the Bible in the Middle Ages for the first time from the Catholic priest," says Jake Warner, co-founder of Nolo Press, a major publisher of do-it-yourself legal fare.

But not everyone is happy with the trend, particularly those in the legal establishment. These critics liken trying to solve complex legal problems without benefit of trained counsel to handling your own brain surgery. They argue that you might be able to prepare a simple will or gain a no-fault divorce with the aid of a book, but you could do yourself serious harm by forgoing a lawyer in a nasty custody spat.

That's one reason the organized bar has fought tooth and nail to quash the spread of self-help materials. "If it's not expressly stated, then it's implied that these materials will make your legal problems vanish, and that's just not true," says Jeffrey Lehmann, a Houston attorney and a member of a Texas Supreme Court committee that tried unsuccessfully to ban distribution of such guides in 1999.

Unmet needs. The self-help industry covers the legal terrain, dispensing step-by-step guidance for solving common legal problems and translating legalese into plain English. And such guides are generally good candidates for relatively simple matters, such as no-fault divorces, uncomplicated wills, landlord-tenant disputes, bankruptcies, and some small-business issues. "Most of these things can be done by a reasonably intelligent person if adequately explained," says New York University law Prof. Stephen Gillers.

There's clearly a huge need for such help. Over half the civil legal needs of low- and moderate-income households are not making their way to the justice system, according to the American Bar Association, and cost is a major reason.

It certainly was for Rainy Robinson. In 1994 she was confronted with a host of legal issues and had only $ 1,500 to her name. She started by reading a book on small claims court and won $ 3,000 from a car dealer who she says sold her a lemon. Since then she's used self-help books to start a company, fight a traffic ticket, draw up contracts, create a will, and set up a nonprofit corporation.

Now 41 and the owner of a chain of driving schools, Robinson, of Antioch, Calif., still swears by the guides. "I would never have known what a trial de novo was if it weren't for these books," says Robinson, who claims to have saved up to $ 100,000 in legal fees by eschewing pricey lawyers.

The legal self-help movement began 35 years ago with the publication of Norman Dacey's How to Avoid Probate, which outlined methods for reducing fees associated with leaving property to heirs. Though lawyers tried to stop its distribution, the book rode the bestseller list for 47 weeks and sold 2.5 million copies.

Two legal-aid lawyers in Berkeley, Calif., then took up the cause. Thumbing their noses at the establishment, they founded Nolo Press, the first publisher dedicated to self-help legal titles. Their first book, How to Do Your Own Divorce in California, was a huge success, selling some 750,000 copies. Nolo today publishes more than 100 titles and projects $ 13 million in sales this year.

The company's success has spawned imitators. There are now more than 40 self-help legal publishers. From trusts to trademarks, patents to property disputes, if you've got a legal problem, they've got a book. There is a bevy of titles devoted to the needs of specific groups, including gays, immigrants, and artists. And there are scores of Web sites offering advice and live chats with lawyers.

Though self-help materials fuel the occasional Perry Mason-like victory, simple tasks like wills and divorces are their forte. Robert Hawkins, 47, of Buckhannon, W.Va., wanted to leave no doubt that should he die unexpectedly, his wife and two daughters would inherit his house, property, stock portfolio, and three vehicles. But Hawkins discovered that lawyers were not cheap. So several years ago he paid $ 70 for a software program to write his own will. "You just answer the questions and it writes the will for you," says Hawkins, whose estate is hundreds of dollars richer for having avoided legal fees.

Foolish client. Hawkins may be satisfied, but some lawyers invoke the old maxim that a person who represents himself "has a fool for a client." According to Dallas lawyer Mark Ticer, "Everyone has the constitutional right to be stupid enough to use these books." Others call the lawyers' opposition a predictable effort to maintain the profession's lucrative role in society. "Consumer protection is a fig leaf for preserving the lawyers' monopoly," says James Turner, executive director of HALT-An Organization of Americans for Legal Reform.

Yet even those who favor the books caution they are by necessity very general. "The only way to write a self-help book is to be in the middle of the road," says Steve Rhode, president and cofounder of Myvesta.org, which provides financial advice. He sees the value of self-help bankruptcy books as a resource rather than a step-by-step guide. "Every situation is different," he says.

The better self-help materials are quick to acknowledge the limits of their advice. Divorce Yourself: The National No-Fault Divorce Kit provides a checklist in the first chapter. Answer "No" to any of seven questions ("Are you able to firmly state your wishes to your spouse and not be intimidated by him or her?" is one) and the book advises hiring an attorney.

That's also a good idea if the legal matter is a criminal one or involves substantial property or the welfare of children. ABA studies say litigants representing themselves often fare poorly in such matters. They may initially save on legal fees, but they run the risk of giving away their legal rights, not addressing important aspects of their case, or asking for too little in arbitration, thereby costing themselves money in the long run.

In some states, the government has jumped on the self-help bandwagon. Arizona's Maricopa County Superior Court paved the way in 1995 by setting up a self-service center that residents can access in person, by phone, or via the Web. County residents can handle family law or estate matters with forms and simple instructions. Some 75,000 people in the county (which includes Phoenix) use the center each year. A battered spouse can obtain without a lawyer a domestic violence protection order the same day he or she applies.

But the system doesn't help all, concedes center Director Bob James, who says: "There are definitely customers who come in and have unrealistic expectations or don't have the capacity to do it themselves."

Arizona is among the friendliest states for those wishing to handle their own legal matters. California and Florida are also amenable, providing forms and assistance to self-helpers, says HALT's Turner. On the other side of the spectrum are Illinois, Ohio, and Texas, all of which continue to erect barriers to nonlawyers in the legal system.

Free advice. Then there's the Internet, which is the latest destination point for those seeking legal advice, although some is worth only what you pay for it--nothing. One of the more useful Web sites is www.freeadvice.com, which gets some 100,000 new visitors a month. It has answers to questions on 125 legal topics such as intellectual property and personal injury law, which serve as a great jumping off point for those tackling a legal issue.

Although advice is in the site's name, what freeadvice.com really provides is information. That troubles some in the legal profession, such as Catherine Lanctot, a Villanova University law professor who studies online legal sites. "There's a real blurring between advising and informing," she says. Though most sites provide disclaimers to the contrary, visitors often think they've entered a client-attorney relationship, with the confidentiality and attorney loyalty that entails.

Lanctot says online legal sites are a good place to start, but she would be reluctant to follow advice offered at them "unless I know if they're a lawyer and whether they're licensed to practice in my state." (You can check both of those, as well as the lawyer's specialties, through the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, located online at www.marhub.com.)

Don't mourn the legal profession's demise just yet. Because the law remains complex and arcane, it will stay the domain of professionals for the foreseeable future. But even those who decide they need a lawyer can profit from the information found in many of the self-help tomes. At the very least, it will make you a more educated client.