"More are serving as their own lawyer; Judge: It's not just poor people" by Margery A. Gibbs, Associated Press | November 28, 2008
OMAHA - ....
The number of people serving as their own lawyers is on the rise across the country, and the cases are no longer limited to uncontested divorces and small claims. Even people embroiled in child-custody cases, potentially devastating lawsuits, and bankruptcies are representing themselves, legal specialists say.
"It's not just that poor people can't afford lawyers. This is really a middle-class phenomenon," said Sue Talia, a judge from Danville, Calif., and author of "Unbundling Your Divorce: How to Find a Lawyer to Help You Help Yourself."
The trend has resulted in court systems clogged with filings from people unfamiliar with legal procedure. Moreover, some of these pro se litigants, as they are known, are making mistakes with expensive and long-lasting consequences - perhaps confirming the old saying that he who represents himself has a fool for a client....
Translation: YOUS STOO-PID because the lawyers had to foul up common law with all their double-speak and triple deceptions!
While the fees lawyers charge vary widely, the average hourly rate ranges from around $180 to $285 in the Midwest and from $260 to more than $400 on the West Coast, according to legal consultant Altman Weil Inc.... --more--"
I ain't paying for that bailout.
You know what kind of lawyers this country needs?
"You know, so much of the time we're lost. We say, 'Please, God, tell us what is right. Tell us what's true. There is no justice. The rich win, the poor are powerless...' We become tired of hearing people lie. After a time we become dead. A little dead. We start thinking of ourselves as victims. (pause) And we become victims. (pause) And we become weak...and doubt ourselves, and doubt our institutions...and doubt our beliefs...we say for example, 'The law is a sham...there is no law...I was a fool for having believed there was.' (beat) But today you are the law. You are the law...And not some book and not the lawyers, or the marble statues and the trappings of the court...all that they are is symbols. (beat) Of our desire to be just... (beat) All that they are, in effect, is a prayer...(beat) ... a fervent, and a frightened prayer. In my religion we say, `Act as if you had faith, and faith will be given to you.' (beat) If. If we would have faith in justice, we must only believe in ourselves. (beat) And act with justice. (beat) And I believe that there is justice in our hearts. (beat) Thank you."
