As a Law student studying the LLB degree with the Open University in the United Kingdom, I thought my classmates may be interested in my experience as a ‘party litigant’ or ‘litigant-in-person’, in other words taking legal action in a civil (not criminal) case without a lawyer. Because it concerns the law, which can be technical, I’ll have to use some legal jargon in this envisaged series of blogposts but I’ll explain as I go along.
The first question for a party litigant (I’ll use that phrase because it’s the shortest one) is:
- Do you really want to do this?
It’s a tremendous investment in time and energy, a rollercoaster of emotions – fear, anger, frustration and exhaustion – but there is also exhilaration. It feels like building your own house. I’ve never done that (my DIY construction projects are limited to a couple of fairly robust compost heaps and a rather shoogily cold frame that produced tiny, sweet strawberries for a few years and is now falling apart) but I imagine that at some point right at the beginning you have to start looking up Planning Law and Plumbing.
There are two alternatives: hire a lawyer or don’t do it at all – and both of them are worth considering:
Hire a lawyer
Clearly, with a lawyer you get legal expertise, the other party will take you more seriously, there’s no danger of missing deadlines or not fulfilling judicial orders (instructions from a judge). In my imagination, because I’m not doing that, it must be like wanting to get from A to B in unknown territory and hiring a chauffeur who knows where to go and how to get there, safely and effectively.
So, to be honest, that’s the strategy that I’d usually recommend – I think it would be a bit irresponsible not to. A key consideration about hiring a lawyer is money.
- There is the possibility of a “no win no fee” arrangement, but I believe you have to read the small print on those (that’s always a good idea anyway).
- Another possibility, if you can’t fund it for yourself, is crowdfunding. That involves going public with the facts of the case, convincing people that your motivations are just and the cause worth supporting, providing updates as the case progresses – and steering clear of the laws of slander (spoken insults) and libel (printed insults, basically).
Don’t do it at all
Reading or hearing about the experiences of people who have brought a civil case may convince you that it’s just not worth it in terms of time, money, and stress. My advice, is to ask yourself whether the negative impact on your life would be worse if you did nothing, or not. In other words, could you live with that? Life is full of injustice and we don’t have to remedy every single wrong. Especially if you have an obsessive personality, it may be a difficult experience for you to get involved with legal action at all. It’s detailed, messy, and it takes a long time – so you may decide that life is just too short. Maybe your employer hasn’t treated you fairly but, hey ho, life goes on and there’s another opportunity just round the corner. This is an option you should definitely consider, seriously.
Do it yourself
So, I want to make it clear that I am very definitely not recommending this option. There are special circumstances in my case that have made this option more attractive to me – but even if you have similar circumstances to me that doesn’t mean that you should necessarily do the same thing.
Firstly, I’m a law student. Before starting the LLB, I studied almost every free Law module on the OpenLearn programme (there are three legal jurisdictions in the United Kingdom: England and Wales; Scotland; and Northern Ireland and the free modules mention all of them). I also paid attention to the compulsory HR courses, many of which have legal content, that had to do as a staff member of the Scottish institute of higher learning at which I was employed. I’m studying part-time; so far I’ve done Public Law (very pleased to get a Distinction in that) I’m waiting for the results of my Business and Employment Law module and next term it’s Contract Law – which is useful, because I began this legal action at the end of last year and the full hearing is scheduled for early December.
Additionally, I’m a proofreader, used to close reading, scanning and skimming complex documents; I have a Ph.D. and several other degrees; I’m a linguist who speaks a few Latin languages and Roman Catholic, so was brought up with a smattering of Church Latin; and I also happen to have a good friend who not only worked in training and recruitment for a huge company for years but successfully took them to court (not by himself, he hired lawyers) and is currently studying a Masters in HR. Those are pretty specific circumstances.
Finally, I’m the Chairman of a small but very feisty political party and actively involved in the freedom movement. One of the reasons why I decided to do this is to demonstrate – with all these caveats – that it’s possible for someone who is not a lawyer to bring a case to justice and to be taken seriously.
Luck of the draw
All of the above may sound as though Law is a rational discourse, governed by rules and reliable procedures. To some extent, I think that’s true but there’s also a good deal of creative narrative (sometimes very creative indeed) as well as plain luck – and I’ve heard employment judges say the same. In their very guarded manner, of course.
A chap I know – because our dogs play together when we’re out for walks – told me that he went along to an Employment Tribunal, just filled out the forms in the corridor outside, and won his case. I think he had help from Citizens Advice, which is another option, and there are several similar paralegal organisations – I mean that they have staff who may not be lawyers but they do have a certain amount of legal training. Another guy I know, in England, is putting tremendous amount of effort into his case and is really struggling.
My experience of the staff of the Employment Tribunal is that they are polite, indeed gracious, and have a real commitment to access to justice (a similar phrase is “levelling up”) meaning that anyone should be enabled to come to law, no matter who they are. This has most definitely been my experience of the judges, I’m happy to report, however it’s only natural for them to feel more affinity with the lawyers on the other side. There was one occasion when the judge said something in error – I know, because I looked it up afterwards – and opposing Counsel (the employer’s lawyers) kept quiet. So, you’ve got to watch them!
That’s it for this first part. Next time, I want to speak about ACAS and starting a claim.
(This post is part of a series)
Thanks to Mohamed Mahmoud Hassan for releasing his image Lady Justice Silhouette into the Public Domain.
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