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: The Once and Future Lawyer

Why serving as your own lawyer is generally a bad idea

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This headline jumped out at me yesterday: More Americans Serving As Their Own Lawyers. Basically, it implies that in the midwest and other parts of the country, people are deciding to represent themselves in certain disputes, such as over custody and divorce.

My friends would occasionally send me excerpts from transcripts on family court cases they had come across and as a clerk I came across a few pro se appeals on the criminal side in one way or another. I can say with absolute certainty that the adage "a person who represents herself has a fool for a client" is around for a reason. The law is tricky and, in the family law realm, very statutory. Why you would want to risk screwing it up by doing it yourself is beyond me. Maybe you enjoy wasting everyone's time. Criminal is another story, but even that is goofy nine times out of ten. Take the prosecutor's deal.

Now, obviously things cost money. Assuming you have to pay your rent, car insurance, food bills, whatever, you probably can scrimp and save up enough (or borrow for that matter) enough for some family law attorney to handle your case. Figure they will want some sort of retainer, and that is probably going to set you back $1000. And then figure it may still cost you more depending on many other factors they can explain to you, so you're going to have to have a budget and figure it out. Divorces, on the other hand, are probably much less complex, and if you are worried about how much a lawyer is going to cost in your divorce case, your case probably is less complex than you think and hence, less expensive. Call around and find a good rate.

So, like anything else you want or desire in this world, if you can't afford it, save your money and figure out a way for it to either become affordable or manageable. There are services (in most states) that may be able to represent you for free, although for this sort of thing, you're probably going to be out of pocket. But, think of it like this: If you're going to try and do this yourself and then screw up, it's going to cost you ten times as much as it would have cost you had you gotten a lawyer in the first place. Hire an attorney.