Representing yourself In Court: Guide to Civil Law

Book Synopsis: Only too often the litigant in person is regarded as a problem for judges and for the court system rather than the person for whom the system of civil justice exists.' (Lord Woolf, Lord Chief Justice (1995), Chapter 17, para. 2.) If you act as a litigant in person (i.e. represent yourself in court), you will find that many judges have very little sympathy for you, if any (see this article in the Daily Telegraph of 1 Oct 2005). They seem to regard them as presumptuous, stubborn, misguided, and obsessive fools (no matter that you have been a qualified expert in your own field for 30 years - they will quite happily dismiss your professional views even though they are less well qualified in the subject than you are - or even not qualified at all), who waste the court's time, require much more effort on the part of the judge (they like to have two sets of lawyers putting all the arguments to them on a plate), and deprive an honest lawyer of his fee (this is not a joke - this is the way they think, even though paying the lawyer his fee will involve you in selling your house). The court staff can also be incredibly unhelpful (often positively obstructive and sometimes deliberately misleading i.e. they will lie to you); their stock answer to any question is 'We cannot give legal advice' and they will tend to say this even when you ask about a procedural matter. This guide will help you prepare your case and you will become familiar with the rules of civil procedure when representing yourself in court.