Can I represent myself at court? Implications of the withdrawal of Legal Aid
Today is the first day for the withdrawal of Public Funding (Legal Aid) for a whole raft of cases, including Family Law.
Couples who divorce will now not have access to legal advice for questions of property division and children arrangements, unless there has been domestic violence in the relationship. Parents of children who are separated will no longer have access to legal advice if one parent refuses to allow the other to see the child. Again if there is evidence of domestic violence, public funding is still available.
So, what does the future hold for those people? How will lack of access to legal advice affect them?
Some people, unfortunately, will simply not be able to cope, and will accept whatever is offered by way of property or access to children.
Others will not accept what is on offer, and will then be in the tricky situation of either having to fund legal advice from their own resources, or will represent themselves in court.
For those people who decide to represent themselves, the Bar Council has brought out an excellent guide for such Litigants in Person, available at
http://www.barcouncil.org.uk/media/203109/srl_guide_final_for_online_use.pdf
It sets out, in simple and plain English, the procedure at court and will be a great resource for people who decide to go it alone. It covers not only the basics of Family Law but also employment law, immigration law, housing law, bankruptcy and debt, and judicial review.
It is possible to represent yourself at court, and more and more people do. However it is really important to think about the risks of doing so, and to try to work out if employing an expert is a better investment. Many people who try to conduct the whole case without any legal advice do not emerge with the result that they want, and many cases which could have settled at an early stage, end up in a fully contested stressful hearing when litigants in person take on the case themselves.
Many solicitors now are flexible in terms of the work that they do; many will support you in your case, advising and preparing the necessary documents, but leaving the client to do the advocacy if the client wishes to do this. Many will work on a fixed fee basis, for all or part of the case, and will agree beforehand the fee to avoid nasty surprises. Many will work on a capped fee basis, so that they will only carry out work up to an agreed fee, again to avoid an unexpected bill. Solicitors are acutely aware that the majority of complaints to the Solicitors Regulation Authority are over the level of fees that have been incurred, or the lack of clarity over the fee arrangement, and no solicitors welcome complaints.
Solicitors are highly trained, dedicated experts – a good investment at a stressful time.