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''Pro se'' legal representation ( or ) comes from Latin ''pro se'', meaning "for oneself" or "on behalf of themselves" which, in modern law, means to argue on one's own behalf in a legal proceeding, as a
defendant In court proceedings, a defendant is a person or object who is the party either accused of committing a crime in criminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case. Terminology varies from one jurisd ...
or
plaintiff A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of t ...
in civil cases, or a defendant in criminal cases, rather than have representation from
counsel A counsel or a counsellor at law is a person who gives advice and deals with various issues, particularly in legal matters. It is a title often used interchangeably with the title of ''lawyer''. The word ''counsel'' can also mean advice given ...
or an attorney. This status is sometimes known as ''in propria persona'' (abbreviated to "pro per"). In
England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is En ...
the comparable status is that of "
litigant in person In England and Wales, a litigant in person is an individual, company or organisation that has rights of audience (this is, the right to address the court) and is not represented in a court of England and Wales by a solicitor or barrister. Instru ...
".


Prevalence

According to the National Center for State Courts in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
, as of 2006 ''pro se'' litigants had become more common in both state courts and federal courts. Estimates of the ''pro se'' rate of family law overall averaged 67% in California, 73% in Florida's large counties, and 70% in some Wisconsin counties. In San Diego, for example, the number of divorce filings involving at least one ''pro se'' litigant rose from 46% in 1992 to 77% in 2000, in Florida from 66% in 1999 to 73% in 2001. California reports in 2001 that over 50% of family matters filings in custody and visitation are by ''pro se'' litigants. In the U.S. Federal Court system for the year 2013 approximately 27% of civil actions, 92% of prisoner petitions and 11% of non-prisoner petitions were filed by ''pro se'' litigants. Defendants in political trials tend to participate in the proceedings more than defendants in non-political cases, as they may have greater ability to depart from courtroom norms to speak to political and moral issues.


History

In '' Faretta v. California'', the
Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. Federal tribunals in the United States, federal court cases, and over Stat ...
stated:
In the federal courts, the right of self-representation has been protected by statute since the beginnings of our Nation. Section 35 of the
Judiciary Act of 1789 The Judiciary Act of 1789 (ch. 20, ) was a United States federal statute enacted on September 24, 1789, during the first session of the First United States Congress. It established the federal judiciary of the United States. Article III, Sec ...
, 1 Stat. 73, 92, enacted by the First Congress and signed by President
Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
one day before the Sixth Amendment was proposed, provided that "in all the courts of the United States, the parties may plead and manage their own causes personally or by the assistance of counsel."
The Court's opinion went on to hold that criminal defendants, in state courts, have a constitutional right to refuse counsel and represent themselves. However, the right to represent oneself is not absolute. Courts have the authority and duty to determine whether a particular individual is capable of representing himself or herself. In making that determination, a court can inquire into the individual's lucidity and mental capacity.


Rules

The U.S. Judiciary Act, the Code of Conduct for United States Judges, addresses the rights of the self-represented litigant in several places. provides: "In all courts of the United States the parties may plead and conduct their own cases personally or by counsel as, by the rules of such courts, respectively, are permitted to manage and conduct causes therein." Laws and organizations charged with regulating judicial conduct may also affect ''pro se'' litigants. For example, the Judicial Council of California officially advocates treating self-represented litigants fairly. The California rules allow for accommodating mistakes by a ''pro se'' litigant that would otherwise result in a dismissal, if the case is otherwise merited. In addition the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure rule 56 on summary judgments notes that ''pro se'' litigants may need additional advice with regard to necessity of responding to a summary judgment motion. According to a June 2012 report from U.S. Courts, 18 of 94 federal district courts authorize use of
alternative dispute resolution Alternative dispute resolution (ADR), or external dispute resolution (EDR), typically denotes a wide range of dispute resolution processes and techniques that parties can use to settle disputes with the help of a third party. They are used for ...
(ADR) for ''pro ses'' and 11 authorize use of ADR by prisoner ''pro ses''.


Electronic filings

Some districts of the United States federal courts (e.g., the Central District of California) permit ''pro se'' litigants to receive documents electronically by an Electronic Filing Account (ECF), but only members of the bar are allowed to file documents electronically. Other districts (e.g. the Northern District of Florida) permit ''pro se'' litigants to file and receive their documents electronically by following the same local requirements as licensed attorneys for PACER NEXT GEN qualifications and approval for electronic use in particular cases; an order of the assigned judge on a ''pro se'' motion showing ''pro se's'' qualifications may be required. A 2011 report from the
Federal Judicial Center The Federal Judicial Center is the education and research agency of the United States federal courts. It was established by in 1967, at the recommendation of the Judicial Conference of the United States. According to , the main areas of respo ...
found 37 of the 94 district courts allow ''pro se'' litigants to use ECF.


Limits

A longstanding and widely practiced rule prohibits
corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and ...
s from being represented by non-attorneys, consistent with the existence of a corporation as a "person" separate and distinct from its shareholders, officers and employees. The Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled that a "nonlawyer may not sign and file a notice of appeal on behalf of a corporation. Requiring a lawyer to represent a corporation in filing the notice does not violate the guarantee that any suitor may prosecute or defend a suit personally. A corporation is not a natural person and does not fall within the term "any suitor." Similarly, a ''pro se'' litigant may not act as a class representative in a
class action A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class actio ...
lawsuit and therefore a ''pro se'' litigant may not bring a
class action A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class actio ...
. Furthermore, a non-attorney parent may not appear on behalf of his or her child, except to appeal the denial of social security benefits to such child. Another situation in which appearance through counsel is often required is in a case involving the
executor An executor is someone who is responsible for executing, or following through on, an assigned task or duty. The feminine form, executrix, may sometimes be used. Overview An executor is a legal term referring to a person named by the maker of a ...
or personal administrator of a
probate Probate is the judicial process whereby a will is "proved" in a court of law and accepted as a valid public document that is the true last testament of the deceased, or whereby the estate is settled according to the laws of intestacy in the st ...
estate. Unless the executor or administrator is himself an attorney, he is not allowed to represent himself in matters other than the probate. Some federal courts of appeals allow unrepresented litigants to argue orally (even so nonargument disposition is still possible), and in all courts the percentage of cases in which argument occurs is higher for counseled cases. In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court adopted a rule, Rule 28.8, that all persons arguing orally must be attorneys, although the Supreme Court claims it was simply codifying a "long-standing practice of the court." The last non-attorney to argue orally before the Supreme Court was Sam Sloan in 1978. Some lawyers, such as
University of Chicago Law School The University of Chicago Law School is the law school of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is consistently ranked among the best and most prestigious law schools in the world, and has many dis ...
professor Will Baude, have argued that the rule might not be legally valid, and could be challenged by a litigant who might want to appear ''pro se''. Some courts issue orders against self representation in civil cases. A court enjoined a former attorney from suing the new lover of her former attorney. The Superior Court of Bergen New Jersey also issued an order against ''pro se'' litigation based on a number of lawsuits that were dismissed and a failure to provide income tax returns in case sanctions might issue. The
Superior Court of New Jersey The Superior Court is the state court in the U.S. state of New Jersey, with statewide trial and appellate jurisdiction. The New Jersey Constitution of 1947 establishes the power of the New Jersey courts.Jeffrey S. Mandel, New Jersey Appellate Pr ...
issued an order prohibiting a litigant from filing new lawsuits. The Third Circuit however ruled that a restriction on ''pro se'' litigation went too far and that it could not be enforced if a litigant certified that he has new claims that were never before disposed of on the merits. The 10th Circuit ruled that before imposing filing restrictions, a district court must set forth examples of abusive filings and that if the district court did not do so, the filing restrictions must be vacated. The
District of Columbia Court of Appeals The District of Columbia Court of Appeals is the highest court of the District of Columbia, in the United States. Established in 1970, it is equivalent to a state supreme court, except that its authority is derived from the United States Cong ...
wrote that "private individuals have 'a constitutional right of access to the courts', that is, the 'right to sue and defend in the courts'."


Effectiveness

In 2011, the Federal Judicial Conference surveyed federal court clerks offices regarding ''pro se'' issues. They found that only 17 of 62 responding judges report that discovery is taken in most non prisoner ''pro se'' cases and only 13 reported that discovery is taken in most prisoner ''pro se'' cases. In the same survey, 37% of judges found that most ''pro se''s had problems examining witnesses, while 30% found that ''pro se''s had no or few problems examining witnesses. 53% found that represented parties sometimes or frequently take advantage of ''pro se'' parties. Only 5% reported problems of ''pro se''s behaving inappropriately at hearings. Respondents to the FJC study did not report any orders against non prisoner ''pro se'' litigation. ''Pro se'' litigants may have a lower chance of success. The Louisiana Court of Appeals tracks the results of ''pro se'' appeals against represented appeals. In 2000, 7% of writs in civil appeals submitted to the court ''pro se'' were granted, compared to 46% of writs submitted by counsel. In criminal cases the ratio is closer – 34% of ''pro se'' writs were granted, compared with 45% of writs submitted by counsel. According to Erica J. Hashimoto, an assistant professor at the Georgia School of Law:
After conducting an empirical study of ''pro se'' felony defendants, I conclude that these defendants are not necessarily either ill-served by the decision to represent themselves or mentally ill. ... In state court, ''pro se'' defendants charged with felonies fared as well as, and arguably significantly better than, their represented counterparts ... of the 234 ''pro se'' defendants for whom an outcome was provided, just under 50 percent of them were convicted on any charge. ... for represented state court defendants, by contrast, a total of 75 percent were convicted of some charge. ... Only 26 percent of the ''pro se'' defendants ended up with felony convictions, while 63 percent of their represented counterparts were convicted of felonies ... in federal court ... the acquittal rate for ''pro se'' defendants is virtually identical to the acquittal rate for represented defendants.


In criminal court

Some ''pro se'' litigants who are federal prisoners are subject to the
Prison Litigation Reform Act The Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), 42 U.S.C. § 1997e, is a U.S. federal law that was enacted in 1996. Congress enacted PLRA in response to a significant increase in prisoner litigation in the federal courts; the PLRA was designed to decrea ...
. The
American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...
(ACLU) has asserted: "For over thirteen years, the Prison Litigation Reform Act has denied access to the courts to countless prisoners who have become victims of abuse, creating a system of injustice that denies redress for prisoners alleging serious abuses, barriers that don't apply to anyone else. It is time for Congress to pass legislation to restore the courts as a needed check on prisoner abuse." 54% of judges responding to a Federal Judicial Conference survey use videoconferences for prisoner ''pro se'' hearings. The Connecticut Supreme Court narrowed criminal defendant's right to self representation, stating that "we are free to adopt for mentally ill or mentally incapacitated defendants who wish to represent themselves at trial a competency standard that differs from the standard for determining whether such a defendant is competent to stand trial". A Senior Assistant State's Attorney explained that the new standard essentially allows judges to consider whether the defendants are competent enough to perform the skills needed to defend themselves, including composing questions for voir dire and witnesses.


In civil court

There is evidence that self-representation is common in civil cases: * In New Hampshire one party is ''pro se'' in 85% of all civil cases in the district court and 48% of all civil cases in the superior court in 2004. In probate court, both sides are unrepresented by lawyers in 38% of cases. In superior court domestic relations cases, almost 70% of cases have one ''pro se'' party, while in district court domestic violence cases, 97% of the cases have one ''pro se'' party. * In California, one party appeared ''pro se'' in 2/3 of all domestic relations cases and in 40% of all child custody cases betwean 1991-95. California reports in 2001 that over 50% of the filings in custody and visitation are by ''pro se'' litigants. Urban courts report that approximately 80% of the new divorce filings are filed ''pro se''. * In Chicago in 1994, 30% of general civil actions filed for less than $10,000 of damages were filed ''pro se''. Landlord tenant actions were filed ''pro se'' 28% of the time. * Utah Judicial Council reports that in 2006 for divorce cases, 49 percent of petitioners and 81 percent of respondents are self-represented. For small-claims cases, 99 percent of petitioners and 99 percent of respondents are self-represented. * The rate of non-attorney filings in bankruptcy courts by debtors, according to University of Illinois Law School's Professor Robert Lawless was 13.8% for chapter 13 cases, and 10.1% for chapter 7 cases. The rate was as high as 30% to 45% for major urban areas, such as California and New York city. US Bankruptcy Court of Arizona reported 23.14% cases filed ''pro se'' in October 2011, up from 20.61% a year before. * There are some notable records of ''pro se'' litigants winning large amounts as plaintiffs, including Robert Kearns, inventor of the intermittent windshield wiper, who won more than $10 million from Ford for patent infringement, and Dr. Julio Perez (District of Southern New York 10-cv-08278), who won approximately $5 million in a federal jury trial from Progenics Pharmaceuticals for wrongful termination as a result of whistleblowing. Jennifer Lynn Espinosa (King County Washington State 17-2-21629-1 KNT) was awarded $3.5 million and the Default Judgment, and $3.5 million and the Final Judgment, when the defendants did not appear or respond to the 20-day summons and complaint for a legal malpractice case. There was no appeal. Jennifer is still waiting for payment from the defendants.


In executive agencies

The
United States Patent and Trademark Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alex ...
permits
inventors An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...
to file and prosecute
patent application A patent application is a request pending at a patent office for the grant of a patent for an invention described in the patent specification and a set of one or more claims stated in a formal document, including necessary official forms and re ...
s ''pro se'' and provides resources for them to do so.


Motivation

According to the 1996 report on ''pro se'' by
University of Maryland Law School The University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law (formerly University of Maryland School of Law) is the law school of the University of Maryland, Baltimore and is located in Baltimore City, Maryland, U.S. Its location places Maryland ...
, 57% of ''pro se'' said they could not afford a lawyer, 18% said they did not wish to spend the money to hire a lawyer, 21% said they believed that their case was simple and therefore they did not need an attorney. Also, ABA Legal Needs Study shows that 45% of ''pro se'' believe that "Lawyers are more concerned with their own self promotion than their client's best interest." Defendants who choose to appear ''pro se'' may do so because they believe they may gain tactical advantages against the prosecutor, such as obtaining sympathy from the jury, the opportunity to personally address the jury and witnesses. ''Pro se'' appearances may also delay the trial proceedings and enhance the possibility of a
mistrial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, ...
and a subsequent
appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...
. Once convicted, a prisoner no longer has the right to a public defender. Motions for post conviction relief are considered civil motions. Brandon Moon is an example of an unsuccessful ''pro se'' litigant who became successful when his case was taken by a lawyer. Moon's case was taken by the
Innocence Project Innocence Project, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal organization that is committed to exonerating individuals who have been wrongly convicted, through the use of DNA testing and working to reform the criminal justice system to prevent futu ...
, and he was released after 17 years in jail for a rape that he did not commit.


Attorney fees

The Supreme Court has held that where a statute permits
attorney's fee Attorney's fee is a chiefly United States term for compensation for legal services performed by an attorney ( lawyer or law firm) for a client, in or out of court. It may be an hourly, flat-rate or contingent fee. Recent studies suggest that whe ...
s to be awarded to the prevailing party, the attorney who prevails in a case brought under a federal statute as a ''pro se'' litigant is not entitled to an award of attorney's fees. This ruling was based on the court's determination that such statutes contemplate an attorney-client relationship between the party and the attorney prosecuting or defending the case, and that Congress intends to encourage litigants to seek the advice of a competent and detached third party. As the court noted, the various circuits had previously agreed in various rulings "that a ''pro se'' litigant who is ''not'' a lawyer is ''not'' entitled to attorney's fees". Narrow exceptions to this principle have also been suggested by other courts in the United States. For example, according to one district court a state-licensed attorney who is acting as ''pro se'' may collect attorney's fees when he represents a class (of which he is a member) in a class-action lawsuit, or according to another court represents a
law firm A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to ...
of which he is a member. In each of those instances, a non-attorney would be barred from conducting the representation altogether. One district court found that this policy does not prevent a ''pro se'' attorney from recovering fees paid for consultations with outside counsel. ''Pro se'' who are not state-licensed attorneys cannot bring up a
class action A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class actio ...
lawsuit. Federal courts can impose liability for the prevailing party's attorney fees to the losing party if the judge considers the case frivolous or for purpose of harassment, even when the case was voluntarily dismissed. In the case of ''Fox v. Vice'', U.S. Supreme Court held that reasonable attorneys' fees could be awarded to the defendant under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1988, but only for costs that the defendant would not have incurred "but for the frivolous claims." Unless there is an actual trial or judgment, if there is only pre-trial motion practice such as motions to dismiss, attorney fee shifting can only be awarded under FRCP Rule 11 and it requires that the opposing party file a Motion for Sanctions and that the court issue an order identifying the sanctioned conduct and the basis for the sanction. ''Pro se'' still has a right to appeal any order for sanctions in the higher court. In the state courts, however, each party is generally responsible only for its own attorney fees, with certain exceptions.


Resources

According to Utah Judicial Council report of 2006, 80 percent of self-represented people coming to the district court clerk's office seek additional help before coming to the courthouse. About 60 percent used the court's website, 19 percent sought help from a friend or relative, 11 percent from the court clerk, and 7 percent went to the library. In the justice courts, 59 percent sought no help. Many ''pro se'' resources come from these sources: local courts, which may offer limited self-help assistance;
public interest group Advocacy groups, also known as interest groups, special interest groups, lobbying groups or pressure groups use various forms of advocacy in order to influence public opinion and ultimately policy. They play an important role in the develop ...
s such as the
American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of aca ...
, which sponsors reform and promotes resources for self-help; and commercial services, which sell pre-made forms allowing self-represented parties to have formally correct documents. For example, the Self-Represented Litigation Network (SRLN) is an organization whose web site, srln.org, is dedicated to issues related to self-represented litigation and offers a curated resource library for legal professionals (courts, lawyers, and allies) engaged in pro se litigation. The organization provides no assistance with particular complaints. "Self-help" legal service providers must take care not to cross the line into giving advice, in order to avoid " unauthorized practice of law", which in the U.S. is the unlawful act of a non-lawyer practicing law. The
American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of aca ...
(ABA) has also been involved with issues related to self-representation.Patricia A. Garcia, "Litigants without Lawyers" "Organizations Involved in ''pro se'' issues" Resources, American Bar Association, 2002, , p. 26 In 2008, the
Louis M. Brown Award Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis (d ...
for Legal Access was presented to the Chicago-Kent College of Law Center for Access to Justice & Technology for making justice more accessible to the public through the use of the Internet in teaching, legal practice and public access to the law. Their
A2J Author Project A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...
is a software tool that empowers those from the courts, legal services programs and educational institutions to create guided interviews resulting in document assembly, electronic filing and data collection. Viewers using A2J to go through a guided interview are led down a virtual pathway to the courthouse. As they answer simple questions about their legal issue, the technology then "translates" the answers to create, or assemble, the documents that are needed for filing with the court. An ABA publication lists "organizations involved in ''pro se'' issues" as including (in addition to the ABA itself) the American Judicature Society, the National Center for State Courts, and the State Justice Institute. Many federal courts publish procedural guides for ''pro se'' litigants. and they've also published the
Civil Rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life ...
complaint In legal terminology, a complaint is any formal legal document that sets out the facts and legal reasons (see: cause of action) that the filing party or parties (the plaintiff(s)) believes are sufficient to support a claim against the party ...
forms. Many state courts also publish procedural guides for ''pro se'' litigants and some states have organizations dedicated to delivering services to ''pro se'' litigants. For instance, the Minnesota Bar Association has a "pro se implementation committee".
United States federal courts The federal judiciary of the United States is one of the three branches of the federal government of the United States organized under the United States Constitution and laws of the federal government. The U.S. federal judiciary consists primaril ...
created the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system to obtain case and docket information from the
United States district court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district co ...
s,
United States courts of appeals The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal judiciary. The courts of appeals are divided into 11 numbered circuits that cover geographic areas of the United States and hear appeals f ...
, and
United States bankruptcy court United States bankruptcy courts are courts created under Article I of the United States Constitution. The current system of bankruptcy courts was created by the United States Congress in 1978, effective April 1, 1984. United States bankruptcy c ...
s. The system, managed by the
Administrative Office of the United States Courts The Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AO) is the administrative agency of the United States federal court system, established in 1939. The central support entity for the federal judicial branch, the AO provides a wide range of l ...
, allows lawyers and self-represented clients to obtain documents entered in the case much faster than regular mail. However, the system charges fees, which were the subject of a class action lawsuit ongoing as of 2019. Freely accessible
web search engine A search engine is a software system designed to carry out web searches. They search the World Wide Web in a systematic way for particular information specified in a textual web search query. The search results are generally presented in a ...
s can assist ''pro se'' in finding court decisions that can be cited as an example or analogy to resolve similar questions of law or in searching specific state courts.
Google Scholar Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in beta in November 2004, the Google Scholar index includes ...
is the biggest database of full text state and federal courts decisions that can be accessed without charge. In 2017, federal circuit court judge Richard Posner retired and founded a pro-bono group for helping ''pro se'' litigants, named the Posner Center of Justice for Pro Se's. The Posner Center of Justice was later dissolved in 2019 after the number of assistance requests from ''pro se'' litigants overwhelmed the available staff.


Notable ''pro se'' litigants

*
Clarence Earl Gideon Clarence Earl Gideon (August 30, 1910 – January 18, 1972) was a poor drifter accused in a Florida state court of felony breaking and entering. While in prison, he appealed his case to the US Supreme Court, resulting in the landmark 1963 decisi ...
was too poor to afford an attorney, and thus proceeded ''pro se'' in his criminal trial in Florida in 1961. He was found guilty and subsequently appealed. He was appointed counsel (his attorney,
Abe Fortas Abraham Fortas (June 19, 1910 – April 5, 1982) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1965 to 1969. Born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, Fortas graduated from R ...
, later became a Supreme Court Justice) when the case reached the U.S. Supreme Court; the court ruled in ''
Gideon v. Wainwright ''Gideon v. Wainwright'', 372 U.S. 335 (1963), was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in which the Court ruled that the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution requires U.S. states to provide attorneys to criminal defendants who are unable to ...
'' that the right to counsel extended to the states as well as the federal government. The decision said that Florida's failure to appoint such counsel in Gideon's case constituted a violation of that right and required states to provide counsel free of charge to indigent defendants in all criminal cases in the future. * James Blumstein represented himself before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1971. Blumstein had recently moved to Tennessee, and he had sought to register to vote. At the time, Tennessee refused to allow anyone to register to vote unless the registrant had lived in Tennessee for at least one year. Blumstein argued that the durational residency requirement for voter registration was unconstitutional. Blumstein won his case 6-1. * Ted Bundy, despite having five court-appointed attorneys, made ''pro se'' appearances in his Florida murder trial beginning in June 1979. The trial was covered by 250 reporters from five continents, and was the first to be televised nationally in the United States. * Robert Kearns was the inventor of the intermittent
windshield wiper A windscreen wiper, windshield wiper, wiper blade (American English), or simply wiper, is a device used to remove rain, snow, ice, washer fluid, water, or debris from a vehicle's front window. Almost all motor vehicles, including cars, tru ...
s. He acted as his own lawyer in parts of his long legal battles for
patent infringement Patent infringement is the commission of a prohibited act with respect to a patented invention without permission from the patent holder. Permission may typically be granted in the form of a license. The definition of patent infringement may v ...
against Ford and
Chrysler Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automotiv ...
. * Edward C. Lawson, an
African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...
civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life ...
activist, was the ''pro se'' defendant in '' Kolender v. Lawson'' (461 U.S. 352, 1983), in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a police officer could not arrest a citizen merely for refusing to present identification. * Sam Sloan is the last non-lawyer to argue a case '' pro se'' before the
Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
. He did so in 1978. The Court ruled in his favor, 9–0. The Court prohibited non-lawyers in 2013. * Jim Traficant, a former U.S. Representative from
Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...
, represented himself in a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act case in 1983, and was acquitted of all charges. Traficant would represent himself again in 2002, this time unsuccessfully, and was sentenced to prison for 8 years for taking bribes, filing false tax returns, and
racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercive, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. Originally and ...
.


See also

*
Litigant in person In England and Wales, a litigant in person is an individual, company or organisation that has rights of audience (this is, the right to address the court) and is not represented in a court of England and Wales by a solicitor or barrister. Instru ...
* '' Young v. Facebook, Inc.'', an example of ''pro se'' litigation in a civil case in the United States * '' Ouellette v. Viacom International Inc.'', another example of a ''pro se'' U.S. litigant.


References

{{Sixth Amendment, counsel, state=expanded Legal procedure United States criminal procedure Law of the United States