To Lawyer Up or to Not Lawyer Up

There’s an old adage: A man who represents himself has a fool for a client. Truer words were never spoken, but nowadays more and more people are avoiding lawyers and handling their matters on their own.

Last week I was standing at the prothonotary’s counter for the Family Court in Doylestown filing a child custody complaint for a client. While I waited for the clerk to process the filing fee and give us a case number, an attractive man in his late 30s, maybe early 40s, wandered in. He had the body of cyclist, maybe a swimmer. He looked a bit uncomfortable as he stood next to me. A clerk asked if he could help him.

“I want to represent myself in my divorce case,” he said.

The assistant waited politely but said nothing.

“I told my attorney to withdraw from the case. It’s costing me a fortune.”

More silence.

“She told me to come here and get whatever papers I need.”

“Well, I don’t know why she would tell you that. We don’t have any papers here,” the assistant said.

“I just need whatever forms you use to enter my appearance,” he replied.

“We don’t have any forms here.”

Being originally from Philly and having dealt more with the Philadelphia Family Court’s prothonotary’s office, I was struck by how polite and respectful both men were being to each other. Neither one copped an attitude. The gentleman trying to enter his appearance seemed to think that he must not be asking the question right so he kept rephrasing it.

“Could you just tell me what I have to do to enter my appearance as my own attorney?”

“I’m prohibited from doing that, sir. That would be practicing law without a license. I’m not allowed to give legal advice. But,” he said, pointing to the door, “There’s a law library in the courthouse across the street. You should go over there, do your research and find out what you have to do.”

“I work 14 hours days,” the man said. “I don’t have time for that. Isn’t there some kind of form or something?”

“I’m sorry. I can’t tell you that. You’ll have to go across the street to the law library and do your research. It’s in the basement.”

I felt bad for the guy. He looked well-heeled, but divorce is usually expensive no matter how much money you make. I decided to pipe up.

“Maybe he could go online. I found some of the custody papers on the Bucks County Courthouse’s website.”

The clerk shook his head. “Not for divorce.”

“Well, maybe legal aid. Is there a legal aid office in Doylestown?”

“They don’t do divorces. They’ll do protections from abuse and child custody and support things but not divorce.”

“So, what do I do?” The guy asked, getting frustrated.

The clerk didn’t shrug or make a face. He just respectfully repeated the same reply. “You’ll have to go to the law library and do your research.” Then he added, “If you’re going to act as your own attorney, you have to do what an attorney does. And don’t get forms from the Internet. Each county is different and if you start downloading stuff you’ll probably get the wrong things.”

By now the woman who was helping me had finished her work and slid me back my copies of the custody paperwork. The man and I left the office at the same time.

I know I’m not supposed to give advice to strangers. Whenever an attorney answers someone’s questions, the attorney/client privilege kicks in even if no money is exchanged. Even if we’re at a party or standing on the street. But sometimes I can’t help it.

“Entering your appearance is really not difficult,” I said. I told him to copy the caption from any of the paperwork he already had and then write one line. Something like “I hereby respectfully move this court to enter my appearance pro se in this divorce matter.”

The guy looked befuddled and a little annoyed by this snag in his plans. I reassured him that it was not difficult. I repeated my instructions because it was clear he hadn’t really heard me the first time. He then told me his story - the wife, instead of dealing with him directly, did everything through her attorney, who then contacted his attorney who then contacted him and they were bleeding him dry. “She’s doing it on purpose.”

He decided enough was enough and he’d just represent himself. But he didn’t even know how to enter his appearance.

And so it goes for many, many people nowadays who have decided to represent themselves in legal matters. Immigration clients are downloading forms from CIS’s website and trying to file their packages alone or, worse, with the help of notaries and travel agents who tell them what they think the immigration service wants them to say.

People battling for custody of their children decide to go it alone because they don’t think they can afford an attorney, and folks who have recently lost loved ones are filing for probate without a clue about what they have to do. Like this guy, they think they can go to the probate office, fill out some forms and voila! Probate is done. They don’t understand about inheritance tax or filings that must be completed down the road. Even people accused of crimes that could have them incarcerated are choosing overworked public defenders over private counsel.

There’s a reason attorneys charge a lot of money. Legal work is detail oriented. Blowing a deadline or filing the wrong paperwork can get your case kicked. In Pennsylvania we are required to take 12 continuing legal education credits each year so we stay up to date with all the changes in the law. There are terms of art and procedural rules that must be understood and respected. It’s not as easy as it looks.

So what can you do? Well, one thing is for sure, if you’re going to represent yourself you need to do your homework and understand the legalities of your issue. Next week, I’ll tell you about organizations and agencies in our area that offer legal services for free or low fees. Even if you are above the income threshold, they are a good place to start.

For now, let me just say the Internet is a good place to get some general information about the substantive law (ie. what is defamation or intentional infliction of emotional distress). But you also need to know the procedural law (where to file, what to file, how to file, etc.) and for that you really should visit the law library in the Bucks County Courthouse.

Beverly Black is an attorney and writer living in Bucks County.