When I was in my last year of law school, one of my professors (who was also a judge) offered up a brief presentation
concerning an issue about which he was clearly passionate - Access to Justice. He told us of the alarming statistics concerning
people who go through civil court unrepresented. He pointed out, interestingly, that although many people do this because
they can't afford a lawyer, many others actually can afford a lawyer, but for a variety of reasons, simply don't want to hire one.
He also told us that in his experience, however, unrepresented people, regardless of their reasons, do need help. I believe the
main point of his presentation was to give us an idea of something we might do in our future law practice called "Limited Scope
Representation" (also "Unbundled Legal Services"). This is where the self-represented person gets some help from a lawyer, and
they do the rest. For example, the lawyer drafts a motion, but the self-represented person attends the court hearing on that motion. Or, an attorney
does the research for the self-represented person, who then develops their legal argument accordingly. I was blown away by all of this, and I knew
right then and there that I was going to create something to help self-represented people.
Over the next several months of brainstorming and kicking around different ideas, I noticed something interesting - that, generally speaking,
everything a person needs to represent themselves, in nearly any kind of legal dispute, is already widely available. Meaning, all of the law, legal forms
including templates, samples, and "how-to" instructions for completing these forms, discussions on specific areas of law and a variety of common
types of legal disputes, including insider tips from experienced lawyers, and so on. All of this, and more, can be found relatively easily on the internet,
at the court, and/or at a law library.
So, what's the problem?
The problem, as I discovered, is that most people do not have the fundamental skill-set necessary to be able to make meaningful use of the plethora
of resources that are widely, and mostly freely, available to them.
Simply put, what's missing is the FOUNDATION. This foundation, as I see it, is: (1)
knowing
how to do a legal analysis, and (2) having a 'Big
Picture' understanding of the entire legal dispute resolution process from start to finish. This was the impetus behind the
development of what would eventually (years later, in fact) become Self Rep Edge. Both of
these skills can absolutely be achieved by using Self Rep Edge, which includes: building your foundation of legal knowledge through the Self Rep Edge Video Series; managing and preparing your case through
the Legal Dispute Workbook; and, recording and organizing your essentials through the Case Management system -
these are the tools a person needs to take control of their legal dispute, with or without a lawyer,
including knowing what steps to take, knowing what questions to ask, and knowing what to do
with the answers to those questions. This is, in part, why we say: Before Doing Anything
Else, Get Get Self Rep Edge.
Kent Giltz, JD, LLM
When I was in my last year of law school, one of my professors (who was also a judge) offered up a
brief presentation concerning an issue
about which he was clearly passionate - Access to Justice. He told us of the alarming
statistics ...read more