Can I just represent myself?

[NewBeginningsSnoopy]

Can I just decide to represent myself for my hearing in January? I feel that this would give me a positive outcome as several cases of different solicitors with lack of empathy, bad blunders in court, total lack of understanding of any details of my case (Childrens Order) etc

Can I do it myself?

How?

What do I need to do?

What do I need to know?

The thing is Spero - this is my 3rd solicitor as the first 2 were terrible. I like this solicitor but the barrister has shown herself to be not great!

Then sack her.

Tell the solicitor you do not want to be represented by her again.

Complain to her head of chambers.

That is unacceptable behaviour.

But I hope isolated. At least I can vouch for my colleagues, none would fail to read a document the client gave them, unless it was 300 pages long and handed to them five mins before being called into court!

Thanks for the tip. I will arrange to see my solicitor to discuss asap. The problem is that all these solicitors and barristers have excellent reputations. Why are they so inadequate with me? Is it because I'm on legal aid? Is it because I'm not assertive or ddemanding enough? I have little faith that a new barrister would be clued in in so little time. Appeal hearing is due to take place in 2/3 weeks!

A good barrister will be able to get on top of a complicated case in an evening - they have no other choice sometimes if they don't get the papers in time.

There are a variety of reasons why you are getting what you perceive to be a poor service.

1. Your legal team is rubbish. Solution - sack them
2. You are not giving your team enough time to consider what you are saying or the information you give isn't clear. Solution - give clear information in good time
3. You and your legal team are not understanding each other. Solution - discuss matters until you are both clear that you both understand each other's positions. Have they asked what your best case scenario is? Have they advised you on the likely outcome? Have they warned you about worst case scenarios? They need to understand what you want, but you need to understand what is achievable. a lot of client dissatisfaction comes from not appreciating the sometimes very wide gulf that can exist between what you want and what you can get.
4. You are a nightmare client, demanding, pushy and incapable of listening to reason. Your team have switched off as you are driving them bonkers. Solution - I am afraid there is none.

I hope it isn't 1 or 4.

My advice would be to try and clear the air with your team before going it alone. If you have a good team and you have faith in them, that is far the best solution.

90% of my work is legal aid and I hope I never do a less than good job because of it. I would rather do a legal aid case for which I may get paid within six months to a year than a private case where I never get paid at all or get paid after three years....

I would definitely second making your case points very clearly. I wrote out a summary of the case my brother in law was bringing supporting his case for his solicitor as there were so many complicated and, frankly, dishonest claims made by his partner.

Each paragraph addressed a single point and stuck to the relevant points. The solicitor said it was so good she asked to take some of the paragraphs and use them directly in the court documents! Obviously they were clear enough

Anyone know when it is business as usual for solicitors after Christmas?

I am working on 30th and 31st but I suspect many firms won't be up and running until first week in Jan.

Please remember you can correct incorrect points made in court. If
I inadvertently misrepresented something, I would rather a client corrected it there and then, rather than wait until it is all over.

The Bar Council (the body that represents barristers in England and Wales) has published a guide to representing yourself in court, which you may find useful OP. You can find it here It's more about starting a claim, rather than an appeal, so I'm no sure how helpful it will be.

www.advicenow.org.uk may also be helpful.

Hello Everyone!

Thanks so much for your replies. The appeal hearing is now next week and I have decided to go ahead with the solicitor & barrister I have at present. I will get a chance to speak at the hearing so in a sense will get to 'represent myself' to some degree. I'm hoping the barrister does a good job! Is there anything I can do to ENSURE this is the case?

Make sure your instructions are very clear. Make sure you understand what the barrister is saying about what you can get as opposed to what you want.

If you can't have a conference before the hearing, make sure you meet at least an hour before your listed start time to talk then.

Oh it's so hard to make my instructions clear as I don't know what I want!!! Well what I want is for him to change his ways or disappear but he's not likely to do either so he just pretends that he's a great dad and lies about all the times when he was a far-from great dad. The trust isn't there for me. I have expressed my views to the court in writing and am just trying to prepare myself for the hearing. I will try and meet with my solicitor next week before the hearing on Tuesday. If my ex were to admit to the things that he did to the kids, I would have some reassurance that he is a person who is accountable for their actions but he's not likely to start admitting to these under oath. The court would no doubt like us to start afresh as parents but how on earth am I supposed to rebuild that trust?

What I would like is for my ex to be cross examined about all the events which up until this point have not been investigated. I have taken issue with the court deciding on a course of action without questioning him at all. So he should be questioned at the hearing at least. I will be questioned too but I think that this should be ok as I have stuck to the truth thus far.

I will look over notes and have them well organised to refer to. I will really try not to be emotional- any tips for this?- and really try to have a think before answering questions.

I will ask the solicitor and barrister for their opinions on what the possible or likely outcome will be

Ah. Well if you don't know what you want, I am not surprised that you are having difficulties working with your legal team. It is very hard to represent a client who cannot say what they want to achieve.

Don't be put off by thinking you can only discuss what is legally achievable. That is their job to explain that to you. Tell them what you WANT, even if it sounds nonsense. Then you can work towards each other and hopefully find a middle way that at least gives you something you can work with.

Reading between the lines, you appear to be saying, your ex is a twat and has behaved in twattish ways and lost your trust. What you WANT is for him to become a nice, kind, trustworthy person.

Obviously there is nothing the courts can do to give you what you want - a twat will remain a twat I am afraid.

But what your team CAN achieve for you is a clear order, with clear boundaries and clear consquences for breaching those boundaries. Thus ex remains a twat, but within parameters that you understand and you can control to some extent.

I hope that makes sense.

I often ask my clients, if I had a magic wand and could get them whatever they want, what would they ask for? That is our starting point. But if they don't understand from me the difference between what they WANT and what they are likely to GET, then I have failed in my job.

Do you mind if I pm you Spero with details?

I don't mind talking in generalities but it probably isn't helpful to get into specifics when I don't have all the information.