You may not need a lawyer any more
It has
long been said that one who represents himself has a fool for a client, but a host of new assisted self-representation options may make that adage obsolete.
The problem, of course, is legendary. People find themselves forced involuntarily into litigation--usually criminal prosecution or family law--and cannot afford the high price lawyers charge for their services. The legal system carries a host of institutional problems that rig the game against pro se litigants. Too often their choice has been between taking whatever "deal" is offered at the beginning and trying to represent themselves. Without help, these "pro se" litigants often face an enormously difficult (I would say "impossible") task in navigating the byzantine legal procedures required to advocate their position.
It is not that courts are unsympathetic--just underfunded. Because a competent person has a constitutional right to represent herself, courts are required to do their best to accommodate pro se litigants. The California Courts, for example, go to great lengths to try to help. But even in the best of circumstances, a judge cannot be seen to give advice to one party or to tip the scales by explaining how things work. And even if one is familiar with the procedure, self-representation eliminates the sort of dispassionate guidance that so often helps in the emotional battlefield that is the courtroom.
Companies like Nolo Press in Northern California have provided self-help legal books for decades, and law students have stepped in to assist pro se litigants in many jurisdictions (like California's Monterey College of Law). But these options have proven less than ideal because law students simply do not have the experience to guide folks through the myriad permutations of a legal proceeding, and it can be difficult to translate even the best books into a courtroom experience.
But recently a new kind of option has become available, and it threatens to disrupt a small corner of the legal industry. I'm talking about what I call "assisted self-representation," where a litigant still represents himself in court but has the assistance of lawyers or other legal professionals in real time. In family law, the pioneers are National Family Solutions, whose nationwide network of professionals have helped thousands of pro se litigants succeed in family law courtrooms. In the driver's license arena, BeatDMV helps people fight for the right to drive without the cost of using lawyers.
I'm sure as time marches on, more options will emerge, including the use of technology to assume more and more of the duties traditionally undertaken by hired lawyers. What is clear to me is that the genie is out of the bottle, and this is a good thing for thousands of litigants who cannot afford their own lawyers.