Can you represent yourself in court? Can you be your own lawyer?

Can you represent yourself in Court?   Can you draft your own legal documents?

Yes and no.  But mostly “no.”

I am often approached by prospective clients who have started lawsuits by themselves, or who have been sued, and who believe they can represent themselves.   Others attempt to represent themselves before various government agencies.

Can people do that?     Yes.  

Can they do it well?   Mostly, “no.”   Actually, mostly and emphatically “no.”

In fact, most people representing themselves in court almost immediately commit errors serious enough to lose valuable rights, whether by blowing a statute of limitations on a claim they may not know they had (meaning they can’t sue for something they could have), or by blowing a defense they may not have known they had.   Others invite counterclaims (that is, a lawsuit right back at them) that they didn’t see coming, and some of those counterclaims can be quite serious and could have easily been prevented.

Unfortunately, too many people think that the experience of negotiating a plea deal on a speeding ticket with a traffic court prosecutor sometime 15 years ago means that they can handle any legal matter.

Well, the bad news for too many people is, “You can’t.”

First of all, you likely didn’t “negotiate” anything meaningful with the prosecutor.  

I have served as a municipal prosecutor and as a municipal public defender, as well as private defense counsel in small and serious cases.   Generally speaking, skilled attorneys get far better results than a person representing himself or herself, and usually with a lower cost in the long run. 

Most people representing themselves don’t know that, because the prosecutor doesn’t tell you what results you might have otherwise gotten, or even if he or she has serious weaknesses in his or her case.

When it comes to civil litigation, such as a business dispute or business lawsuit, or appearing before a government agency, it gets far more complicated.   Mistakes can be and often are costly.   Very costly.

The same is true for drafting legal documents.  I am frequently approached by clients who drafted their own wills, or contracts, or some other important legal document, having borrowed some form they found on the internet or some other source.  They have done so in an effort to save a few bucks.

You may be intelligent.   You may know how to look up forms on the internet.   But that doesn’t mean you understand what 3 years of law school and years of experience teach a good lawyer, to say nothing of thousands of rules and regulations a person needs to know to competently navigate a case, to say nothing of the hundreds of resources that a good attorney has to bring a case to a successful resolution.   Nor does your intelligence necessarily mean you know how to draft a legal document that can protect you and minimize your expenses down the road.

Intelligence is a great thing…until it fools you into thinking you have the knowledge and experience necessary to do the job correctly.

Not only that, the law changes.   The law actually changes a lot. 

What you think may be true may not be true anymore, either factually or legally.  

The thing is, you don’t know what you don’t know. And what you don’t know can hurt you.

And whatever you may read in the news or see on television, or on YouTube or TikTok, that is not the law.   That is what someone says about the law, and that someone may or may not be right.   And no matter what, it’s certainly not enough information to let anyone represent himself or herself in court.

I know how to play baseball.   I can even pitch and play outfield.  I have watched thousands of baseball games.  But no professional baseball team is going to pay me even a cheap salary just to save a few bucks just because I know the rules of baseball and can play in the field. 

Why?  

Because they are professionals.  They know that the money it “saves” them is going to cost them immensely in the long run.    They know that the job is better left to the experts…and they know it is better to pay for value worth with the services provided.

And so it is with the law.    You get what you pay for.   And if you don’t pay for anything, you may end up paying a lot more down the road, and probably will.

If you think you have a legal matter, give our office a call at 732-359-0242 and see if we can help.