The high cost of hiring a lawyer has forced many people to be their own legal counsel according to a new report.
The National Self-Represented Litigants (SRL) project surveyed 259 self-represented litigants in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario, and found that more than half couldn’t afford to pay a lawyer through an entire case.
According to the report, “respondents had exhausted their available resources and were often resentful that despite significant expenditures on private legal services, they were still not at the end of their action.”
CBC radio interviewed the author of the report, University of Windsor law professor Julie Macfarlane, to explain the results of her findings.
“It’s a system problem,” said Macfarlane in her May 10 interview. “The reality is [self-representing litigants] are doing this because they don’t have any other choice… we need to think of a way to build a system that people can use without legal representation in every case.”
While self-representation saves costs, Macfarlane said it can cause delays and even adjourned cases if documents aren’t filled out correctly.
Her study recommends an increase in online resources and educational workshops, among other suggestions, to help solve these issues.
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