Court Leader's Advantage

April 16th Court Leader’s Advantage Podcast Episode It may have started with the advent of no-fault divorce in the 1970s.  But the numbers of litigants representing themselves in court has regularly increased year after year.  This fact has presented a challenge for the community and for courts.  People pursuing legal matters in court and who have limited legal experience are at a decided disadvantage.  They are at greater risk of ending up with an unfortunate (or maybe even a disastrous) outcome.  Likewise, unschooled self-represented litigants in a courtroom can be time-consuming and lead to uncomfortable situations for litigants, judges, and court staff.   As a result, many courts around the country have created centers to assist self-represented litigants in pursuing their cases and appearing in court.  The presence of court self-service centers is a mixed bag.  Not all courts have them and the centers themselves can range from the very modest to the very extensive.  This month we’re going to look at self