Legal News

DIY Lawyering Clogging Dockets, Putting Judges in Tough Spots

By Ashby Jones

What’s the saying? People hate lawyers — until they need one?

We thought of that saw this morning while reading Jonathan Glater’s piece in the NYT about the rise in DIY lawyering during the recession.

According to the piece, the financially strapped are representing themselves more and more in court. It’s not necessarily a good thing: the well-intentioned but often clueless hordes are clogging already overly taxed courthouses as clerks spend more time helping people unfamiliar with forms, filings and fees.

The situation isn’t just straining the dockets of courtrooms around the country; but putting a strain on justice as well. The untrained miss deadlines, fail to bring the right documents or evidence or show up unprepared for legal proceedings. Not surprisingly, such gaffes make it more likely they will fare poorly - no matter the merit of their cases.

One especially interesting question raised by the story: What’s a judge to do in such situations. As the NYT puts it, “the judge is supposed to be neutral but also has an interest in moving things along.”

"If you see a person making a terrible mistake, you can't always jump in and save them," said Judge James Borbely, the circuit court judge in Vermilion County, Ill. "You cannot take the role of an advocate."

Perhaps not, but others feel courts must do more to help people navigate the courts, said John T. Broderick, the chief justice of New Hampshire. "If you and I went to the hospital and they said, 'Do you have insurance?' and we don't, and they said, 'There are some textbooks over there with some really good illustrations,' " Judge Broderick said, "we would think that was immoral."

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on April 10, 2009 (boomark / email).