Staff photo / Ed Runyan From left, attorney and former Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge Shirley Christian, Mahoning County Bar Association Executive Director Renee Kenneally and Mahoning County Law Library Executive Director Susan McGrew took part in the grand reopening Thursday of the Mahoning County Law Library.

YOUNGSTOWN — Attorney Terry Grenga said having three private offices in the Mahoning County Law Library on the fourth floor of the Mahoning County Courthouse will help her give legal advice to people with a case in Domestic Relations Court.

Grenga is one of the attorneys who provide this assistance through the Self-Help Center, which operates through a Domestic Relations grant on the first and third Wednesday of the month from 12:30 to 4 p.m.

Attorneys like Grenga help with matters such as divorce or dissolution of marriage, separation agreements, shared parenting plans, child support, violations of court orders and other issues. It is for low-income people.

Grenga was one of the attorneys and others who visited the law library as it hosted a daylong grand reopening Thursday after months of remodeling. The law library remained open during the construction.

“This is fabulous. It’s a beautiful space for the lawyers, for the clients,” Grenga said of the remodeled space that underwent a $400,000 renovation — all paid for with private money generated by membership dues lawyers used to pay to be members of the now defunct Mahoning County Law Library Association.

The Mahoning County Law Library Resources Board, which runs the law library, decided to use the funds that had accumulated to create three meeting rooms in an area that had an open floor plan before to enable attorneys to have private meetings with clients or conduct quiet research.

“The fact that we can have meetings, have a private room with the door shut and talk with clients separately is very important,” Grenga said. The Domestic Relations Court asks those wishing to use the Self-Help Center to contact the Domestic Relations Court for an appointment.

One reason the offices could be added was that the Internet makes it possible to access much of the legal research attorneys need from their computers and eliminate many of the physical law books of a previous generation.

The funds also allowed the resources board to upgrade a separate area where Mahoning County Law Library Executive Director Susan McGrew and her assistant help attorneys with their legal research. That area also received additional seating and workstations for the public.

The rooms are equipped with a computer loaded Westlaw software, a top legal research tool, and will soon have videoconferencing equipment to enable attorneys to meet virtually with people.

The money used to pay for the renovations came from funds that accumulated between 1905 and 2010 from membership fees collected from attorneys of the nonprofit Law Library Association. The fees were paid by attorneys for being able to use the law library.

The association dissolved itself in 2010, and half of the approximately $900,000 in its endowment was available for use by the law library.