Gov. Ed Rendell can remember being in the audience at a showing of "Jurassic Park" when his fellow movie-goers cheered as a Tyrannosaurus Rex ate the lawyer character.

A new Pennsylvania initiative may help change the negative view of lawyers, Rendell said yesterday during a videoconference from Harrisburg.

"Pennsylvania is going to use the power of lawyers, bankers and mortgage brokers to do something positive," he said.

Mr. Rendell announced yesterday the launch of "Get Help Now, Pennsylvania," an initiative to provide free legal and financial help to Pennsylvanians hurting from the current economic crisis.

Lawyers, banking and mortgage professionals and financial analysts with expertise in finance, credit and bankruptcy will serve on help desks around the state from 1 to 6 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays beginning July 7. The program lasts through Sept. 10, concluding with a National Day of Service and Remembrance on Sept. 11. For more information, visit www.pa.gov or call 888-799-4557.

The program is in response to a May 28 letter from the White House, asking Mr. Rendell and first lady Judge Marjorie Rendell to take part in the national service initiative led by the Obama administration.

Pennsylvania's program "involves people in their professions, but acting as neighbors helping neighbors," Judge Rendell said, speaking over videofeed from Philadelphia.

Pennsylvania's Bar Association, Bankers Association, Credit Union Association, Association of Community Bankers, Mortgage Bankers Association, Association of Mortgage Brokers, Financial Services Association, Department of Banking and the First Lady's Office are all contributing to the program.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder joined Judge Rendell in Philadelphia to announce the initiative's launch, saying it can be a "model for the country."

"These are times when people have lots of questions, need lots of guidance, the kind of guidance you can share," Mr. Holder said, speaking to the bankers, mortgage brokers and lawyers joining in the videoconference from around the commonwealth.

Hal Coffey, a lawyer with the Pittsburgh firm Grogan Graffam and the area governor for the Pennsylvania Bar Association, will share his expertise in real estate law.

People who need help in areas like mortgage foreclosure, credit card debt and debt collection can visit the Pennsylvania Bar Institute Conference Center in room 760 of Heinz 57 Center (the former Gimbels department store) at 339 Sixth Ave., Downtown.

Across Pennsylvania, 15 sites will be part of the initiative, and a spokeswoman for Mr. Rendell's office said more sites are expected.

Pennsylvanians, like Americans across the country, continue to struggle in the weak economy, Mr. Rendell said, noting that 115,000 Pennsylvania homeowners were delinquent with their mortgages in the first quarter of 2009.

"People are in trouble, real trouble," Mr. Rendell said. "And we're going to be able to help them to get real relief."