What self--represented litigants (actually) want.

• Author: Burton, Sarah

What should we do about self-represented litigants (SRLs)? Amid a backdrop of skyrocketing legal fees, decreased public funding, and a resultant wave of self-representation, this question seems to be on every reformer's mind. Countless reports, working groups, and studies have asked this question, and reached diverse and creative conclusions. However, these papers often share one critical failing: none of them actually ask SRLs what they think.

Enter the Self-Represented Litigants Project (Dr. Julie Macfarlane, "The National Self-Represented Litigants Project: Identifying and Meeting the Needs of Self-Represented Litigants", May 2013) Dr. Macfarlane's insightful Report has a premise that is as ground-breaking as it is simple--if we want to know what SRLs want and need, we should ask them. In doing so, the Report shakes off the often unidentified but misguided presumption that a lawyer's intimate knowledge of the justice system translates into an understanding about an SRL's experience.

The Report itself is a qualitative study chronicling the experience of over 250 SRLs in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia. Through the surveys and interviews conducted, the Report raises many interesting issues beyond the scope of this article. The following paragraphs highlight some of the most thought-provoking requests and suggestions SRLs believe would assist in navigating the justice system.

So, what do SRLs actually want?

Clear and Practical Legal Information

We are failing to provide SRLs with practical, readable and consistent legal information. This complaint was repeatedly raised across all the sources of legal information available to SRLs:

* Court forms are unnecessarily complex, use legal jargon and contain unhelpful notations.

* Information from court staff and judges is often inconsistent.

* Self-help materials are overwhelmingly focused on substantive law at the expense of much more practical nuts-and-bolts concerns. For example, SRLs repeatedly asked for information on how to fill out forms, where to file court documents or find their courtroom, and how to initiate procedures like a court application or mediation.

An Explanation of the Difference Between Legal Information and Legal Advice

Court clerks are permitted to provide legal information, but not advice. While simple on its face, this rule quickly dissolves into an unworkable chaos when an SRL tries to file a document. Is telling someone how to organize their affidavit "legal...