Introduction
This is introduction to Litigants in Person, and some notes on acting as a Litigant in Person. As always, if you are unsure of anything, you should always seek qualified legal advice.
What is a Litigant in Person?
A litigant in person (or LIP) is someone who is not legally represented by a solicitor.
This means that you will be dealing with the other side’s solicitors and you will be responsible for making sure that you keep to any deadlines. It also means you will be responsible for drafting any/all documents for the Court, and ensuring that they reach the Court on time. It also means you will be the person addressing the Judge and arguing your case.
For representation in court and certain other work such as drafting certain documents, LIP’s can instruct Barristers on a Direct Access basis (see here); but the Barrister is limited to an extent to what they can do – for example they can’t liaise directly with other side’s solicitors, nor can they ‘serve’ documents to the Court.
Why be a Litigant in Person?
The most common one is the case not being able to afford legal representation. This is especially common at a pre-action phase, where you may not want to spend £5,000 on paying a solicitor to review and respond to a pre-action letter.
People choose to be litigants in person (or LIP’s) for all kinds of reasons.
Another example may be in the Small Claims Court where there is no award for professional legal costs, even if you win.
In other cases, it may be that the matter is straightforward and you are confident enough to represent yourself – for example a small claim against a business that owes you money.
Another example may be that you actually are a legal professional, that knows exactly what they’re doing.
Or……..you may be like me……who is yet to meet solicitor capable of remembering everything the way I do, and find the process of getting everything ‘on paper’ to a solicitor in effect doing their job for them.
Whatever your reasons, you are entitled to represent yourself if you chose to, and the Courts permit you to without any form of permissions. This is vastly different to the law in the USA, where certain states can order you to have legal representation!
Do I need to understand ‘the law’?
Being honest: yes.
There is very little point in being a Litigant in Person if you do not understand the legal case and the Civil Procedure Rules you are dealing with. If you’ve no intention of understanding the points of law you are making, then you should really hire a solicitor or direct access barrister.
Are Litigants in Person taken seriously?
Perhaps let me answer that another way. You should be treated respectfully.
The Court will treat everyone with respect – whether you are a LIP or a Barrister with 40 years experience.
Solicitors acting for the other side should treat you with respect. They should not be rude or disrespectful, or assume because you are an LIP they should treat you any differently to a professionally represented party – but they may explain things in a more ‘laymans’ way to you.
It’s course a two-way street, you need to ensure you are respectful too. If your communications (whether in writing or orally) are concise, clear, and deal with the issues – then you will be treated with respect, and ultimately seriously.
You can be ‘wrong in law’, but taken entirely seriously. In fact 50% of Barristers and Solicitors are ‘wrong in law’ – they have to be, else there wouldn’t be a legal system where people lose! The Court will always take anyones’ case seriously and respectfully – even if you don’t win.
Dealing with Judges
Dealing with Judges is of course something you need to do carefully and sensitively.
I have created a separate article on this, which you can find here.
Dealing with Solicitors
Solicitors may appear to be the enemy – but often it’s the case they are really not.
Sometimes they will be fair and helpful, and it will be possible to agree lots of things; allowing the issues to be narrowed down and the Judge’s job a lot easier.
At other times, solicitors will think they way to impress their clients is sending lots of aggressive communication and threatening you no end, and get involved in a load of nonsense.
Sadly, which one of those you get is very much luck of the draw. I’ve written this post about how I think its best to deal with solicitors – which is quite a post in itself!
Costs
Costs are one of the things that are bound to come with any litigation. I’ve written a much fuller post here which details about the various costs in litigation, and what you may either have to or can claim.
Equal Justice for LIP’s?
It perhaps follows from the above the question of whether Litigants in Person really do get justice in the Courts, or whether there is a presumption that the Court will accept at face value all they are told from the represented party or parties, and side against the Litigant in Person.
My experience has been that the Courts and Judges are scrupulously fair.
From personal experience, I can tell you that Judges are only really interested in who presents the best legal case and who is ‘right’ in law. As someone who has had Solicitors, Barristers and Kings Counsel lose against me in Court (which must be a huge hit to their egos) – the Court’s discretion is on the issue of law, not who or how it is presented.
With that said, there does have to be some style over substance and I would urge anyone with a pending Court case to visit a public gallery of any Court in the UK so that you know to conduct yourself, and watch the professionals do it.
As an LIP you may not have a legal representative, and the Courts are required to make certain allowances for that. But ultimately, the Court cannot side with a person they feel sorry for them any more they can side with someone because they are legally represented.
So, ultimately, I do think that Litigants in Person do get equal justice in the Courts. But it’s going to come to down to how good your case is.