The GOP and conservative talk radio have made a terrible mistake by jumping on the "do it yourself" legal bandwagon.  Instead of trying to occupy the ground seized by their political opponents in the legal community, they are pursuing a scorched earth policy that will eventually do as much harm to their own constituents as it does to their political oppoents.

 

I have a file on my desk right now where one side tried to represent herself.  It is probably going to cost a lot more money to straighten it all out than it would have for her to hire competent representation to start with.

 

The problem is that most pro-se litigants don't start out to be pro-se litigants.  After listening to Judge Napolitano or Glenn Beck or the worst of the lot Dave Ramsey, they believe that they are compentent to fill out a few "simple legal forms" without the advice or assistance of an attorney.  The fact that they do not know the risks and implications of executing those forms is secondary at the time.  And then, the other side hires an attorney (or had one on retainer all along)  and things start unravelling quickly.

 

Judges don't like pro-se litigants any more than they would like to see a train wreck happen in front of their bench.  Judges must be impartial and thus cannot assist the pro-se litigant in presenting their case.  They can only assure that the pro-se litigant gets the minimal due process necessary to prevent a reversible error on the part of the court.  It is never a good idea to walk into court with a case you know your judge is going to dislike and minimal due process is a far cry from what most people expect from their day in court.