Possible to defend yourself in court without a lawyer and likely to suceed?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I was reading the thread about file sharing and the RIAA in Great Debates, and I thought of something. It was mentioned that they may come after users of certain programs. It was also mentioned that Scientologists use lawsuits as a way to drain money. This thread is not a debate about file sharing or Scientology though.

I was wondering if it’s possible against some lawsuits to not need a lawyer, but represent yourself, especially in those designed to shrink your money. I figure you should be able to tell a judge that the lawsuit in question is ludicrous, for reasons X, Y, and Z.

2

I think it is possible, but you would have to make sure you could draft a good legal document for the court showing why the plaintiff’s case has no merit.

3

Pardon my hijack, but this reminds me of a related question that occurred to me a couple of weeks ago. What would someone who was representing himself do if he wished to testify on his own behalf? Were he represented, his lawyer could call him as a witness and examine him. How would he examine himself? Or is this option closed for this person? Any lawyers care to weigh in?

4

You can sucessfully represent yourself in court, just like you can successfully do your own dental work or remove your own appendix. In other words, it ain’t recommended. If the case is really and truly meritless and filed only to harass you your lawyer can file a motion for sanctions against the other party for their attorney’s fees and your expenses.

SCSimmons: a pro se plaintiff or defendant testifies by speaking directly to the jury in narrative.

5

It’s possible to defend yourself, and the court will grant you a great deal of leeway in the formalities if you do so. On the other hand, I do only a VERY small amount of litigation, and it’s not too hard to nail a pro se party.

6

Most courthouses have a law library & you ask the clerk there what books/papers/forma to look for & where to get 'em.

So, yes you can. Even in child support cases, alot of people do it themselves. book: Child Support Made Simple

As they used to say (probably a lawyer said it), ‘A person who represents themself has a fool for a client’ or something like that :slight_smile:

7

IMHO it totally depends on the type and complexity of the case. Unfortunately, non-lawyers are sometimes not in the greatest of positions to judge the type and complexity of the case. I’ve spent most of my career in the legal field, (both as a court interpreter and as a paralegal; IANAL), and a) there are some really mindless and straightforward things that people pay lawyers lots of money to handle for them; and b) there are some really sleazy and incompetent lawyers out there.

One small example: lawyer does not show up, or even call, on the day of his clients’ political asylum hearing, despite previous continuances granted and despite solid information supporting merits of case. On day of hearing, judge decides to go ahead anyway and conduct hearing with people in deportation proceedings appearing pro se (at least they had the sense to show up). Judge grants them quite a lot of leeway in questioning, drawing out information pertinent to case probably 100 times better than their own attorney would have done (I’ve seen this lawyer in action numerous times, and in addition to being an unethical, money-grubbing sleazeball, he is an idiot. It’s really a miracle he hasn’t been disbarred).

As judge is about to issue oral decision granting political asylum, lawyer shows up (nearly 4 hours late). Judge instructs Eva Luna, Interpreter, to go out in the hallway and keep Sleazeball from coming in, because Judge doesn’t want asylees to have to pay for services that were not rendered. Judge grants asylum; everyone except Sleazeball lives happily ever after.

Also, I’ve been dealing with a landlord/tenant issue on my own, and believe me, my landlord’s attorney is either so incompetent or so manipulative (depending on how charitable you want to be regarding his motives) that at this point I would not hesitate to appear pro se* in Housing Court if it were necessary. I figure if I got in over my head, I could ask for a continuance; I’ve never known a judge who wouldn’t grant someone appearing pro se a short continuance to hire an attorney.

On the other hand, I’ve seen people appearing * pro se* do some unbelievably stupid things, like dilly-dally and/or piss off the judge. If your case is complex, and/or the consequences are large (prison sentences, complex deportation matters), hire a lawyer if you can at all afford it, and talk to your local nonprofit legal services agency if you can’t. Even if Legal Services won’t represent you, they usually have a list of reputable people to refer you to, which is a whole lot better than picking a lawyer out of the Yellow Pages.