An Introduction to Representing Yourself in Court xv
1. Vocabulary xviii
2. Who's Who in the Court Process xviii
3. The Court Process, a Big Picture Overview xxi
3.1 Step one: Filing in court xxi
3.2 Step two: Serve your complaint or answer xxi
3.3 Step three: Prepare, file, and serve any
urgent or other pre-trial requests to the court xxii
3.4 Step four: Trial preparation xxii
3.5 Step five: Discovery xxii
3.6 Step six: Negotiation and mediation xxiii
3.7 Step seven: Pre-trial conference xxiii
3.8 Step eight: Trial xxiii
3.9 Step nine: Appeals, enforcement of court orders,
and modifications xxiii
4. Administrative and Quasi-Judicial Proceedings xxiv
5. Is It a Good Case? xxiv
5.1 Is there a legal issue? xxv
6. The Cost of Litigation xxvi
7. So, Is It Time to Go to Court? xxviii
vi Representing Yourself in Court
7.1 Factors indicating it is time to go to court xxviii
7.2 Factors indicating it is not time to go to court xxix
8. Be Informed xxx
Part One: Before the Trial 1
1 Settlement and Alternatives to Court 3
1. What Is Settlement? 3
1.1 Is settlement win-win? 4
1.2 What are the disadvantages of a settlement? 5
2. How to Get to Settlement: It Takes Two 5
2.1 When Is a deal a deal? Offer and acceptance 6
2.2 Take notes 6
3. Types of Alternative Dispute Resolution 6
3.1 Verbal negotiations 6
3.2 The art of written negotiations: Letters and emails 9
4. Bill Eddy's BIFF Response 13
5. What is Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)? 14
5.1 Mediation 14
5.2 Arbitration 16
5.3 Collaborative law 17
5.4 Government agencies 17
5.5 Do nothing 18
6. Writing an Enforceable Agreement or a Consent Judgment 18
6.1 Elements of a settlement agreement 18
6.2 Elements of a consent order 20
6.3 Consent order or settlement agreement? 21
2 Learning the Law 23
1. Overview of Where Law Comes From 24
2. How to Know Which Laws Apply 25
2.1 Step one: To get a general idea of what the law is, start
with resources designed for self-represented persons 25
2.2 Step two: Use the resources lawyers use 26
2.3 Step three: Go to the statutes 26
2.4 Step four: Case law and the courts 28
3. How to Read a Case 29
3 Filing in Court 31
1. Where Do I Start? Plaintiff's Perspective 31
1.1 What gets filed? 33
Contents vii
1.2 Who are the parties? 33
1.3 How do I write my claim? 34
2. Where Do I Start? Defendant's Perspective 39
2.1 Counterclaims 42
2.2 Adding another party: Cross-claims 42
2.3 Filing a claim or an answer 43
3. Filing Fees 43
4. Forms 43
5. Service 44
6. Organization 46
4 Lawyers 47
1. Where Are the Good (Competent) Lawyers? 47
2. How to Get Free (or Low-Cost) Legal Advice 48
2.1 Types of low- or no-cost legal assistance 49
3. How to Deal with a Lawyer on the Other Side 53
4. How to Hire a Lawyer 54
5. When Don't You Need a Lawyer? 55
6. Lawyers and Misconduct 56
5 Discovery: Sharing Evidence and Information 61
1. Discovery 61
2. What Is Evidence? 61
2.1 Determining admissibility: Learning the law 63
2.2 What is hearsay, and is it always bad? 64
2.3 Weight: Not all evidence was created equal 65
3. What Evidence Gets Shared in Discovery and How? 65
3.1 Documents and other physical information that
should be disclosed: Yours and theirs 67
3.2 Information that should generally not be disclosed:
Privileged, confidential, or irrelevant 68
4. How Do You Do Discovery? 69
4.1 When you have information to be disclosed 69
4.2 Information the other side holds 70
4.3 Documents in the possession of a non-party:
Third-party documents 71
4.4 Asking questions: Oral and written discovery 71
5. Preparation for a Deposition 80
6. Requests for Admission 82
6.1 Answering requests for admission 83
viii Representing Yourself in Court
7. What to Do When the Other Side Isn't Complying
with Discovery Rules 84
6 Motions and Temporary Orders 87
1. Common Motions 88
1.1 Urgent motions 89
1.2 Procedural motions 92
2. How to Make a Motion 94
2.1 Motions in writing with notice 94
3. Estimating Time 97
4. Drafting an Affidavit for a Motion 97
4.1 Parts of an affidavit 98
5. Exhibits 100
6. Drafting a Draft Order 101
7. Scheduling, Filing, Service 102
7.1 Responding to a filed and served written motion 103
7.2 How do you present a filed and served motion in court? 104
8. Courtroom Etiquette 107
9. How Do You Make an Oral Motion When the Trial Has
Already Started? 108
9.1 Typical oral motions in court 109
10. Costs 111
11. What If the Other Side Ignores a Temporary Order? Contempt 112
7 Pre-Trial Procedures, Preparation, and Your Trial Book 113
1. Stress Management 113
2. Jury Trials 114
3. Pre-Trial Hearings and Conferences 115
3.1 Settlement conference before a judge 115
3.2 Pre-trial conference and brief 118
4. Trial Preparation 118
4.1 What you need to prove and how to prove it 119
5. Your Trial Book: Get (and Stay) Organized! 119
5.1 How to make your Trial Book 120
6. Your Exhibits 125
7. Other Pre-trial Preparation 125
Part Two: The Trial and Beyond 127
8 Trial Day Proceedings 129
1. Typical Order of Trial Proceedings 129
Contents ix
2. Before You Leave Home 130
3. Default Judgment 130
4. Your Job at Trial 131
4.1 Thoughts on demeanor 131
5. The Trial 132
5.1 Witnesses 132
5.2 Opening statement 133
5.3 Trial Book and notes 136
9 Witnesses 137
1. Subpoenaing Witnesses 137
2. Direct Examination 138
2.1 Improper leading questions on direct examination 143
2.2 Witness preparation 144
2.3 You forgot a question? 145
2.4 The witness can't remember something 146
2.5 Testifying yourself 147
3. Cross-examination 148
3.1 Why cross-examine? 149
3.2 How do you cross-examine? 150
4. Impeaching 152
5. Objections 153
5.1 Objections to questions 154
5.2 Objections to testimony 156
5.3 What to do when the other side objects 156
6. Incriminating Testimony 157
7. The Expert Witness 157
7.1 Expert testimony 158
10 Exhibits 161
1. Getting in Your Evidence 161
2. Focusing on Documents 164
2.1 Expert reports 164
3. Photographs, Voicemails, etc. 165
4. Documents on Cross-Examination 166
5. Introducing Documents by Agreement 166
6. Strategizing with Your Witnesses about Exhibits 167
7. Exhibit Organization 168
8. Common Objections to Exhibits 170
x Representing Yourself in Court
11 Closing Arguments and Wrapping Up 173
1. What Is a Closing Argument? 173
2. The Defendant's Closing 175
2.1 Part 1: The facts 175
2.2 Part 2: The law 176
2.3 Part 3: The conclusion 177
3. Logistics: The Defendant Is Done so What Happens Next? 177
4. The Judge during Closing 178
5. Jury Instructions 179
6. Proposed Findings and Draft Proposed Order 179
7. The Judge's Decision 180
8. Costs 181
12 You Won (You Lost): What Next? 183
1. You Won! Now What? Enforcing a Court Order 183
1.1 Going to court to enforce the order 184
2. You Lost: Do You Have to Do What the Order Says? 185
3. Judgment Proof 186
4. Post-Judgment Agreements 186
5. Post-Judgment Motions 187
6. Appeals 187
6.1 How appeals are made 188
6.2 What if you are served with a Notice of Appeal? 189
6.3 What happens to the trial court's order while you are
waiting for your appeal hearing? 190
6.4 Is an appeal worth it? A lawyer can help 190
6.5 The appeal hearing 190
7. Modifications: Changing the Court's Order in the Future 191
8. When Is It Over? 191
9. What Do You Do with All the Stuff? 191
10. Congratulations 192
Download Kit 193
Samples
1 Complaint and Answer 36
2 Do You Need a Lawyer? 57
