Welcome to the NSRLP!
The National Self-Represented Litigants Project (NSRLP) is committed to advancing understanding of the challenges and hard choices facing the very large numbers of Canadians who now come to court without counsel.
The NSRLP works to promote dialogue and collaboration among all those affected by the self-represented litigant phenomenon, both justice system professionals and litigants themselves. We regularly publish resources designed specifically for SRLs, as well as research reports that examine the implications for the justice system.
Our Pages
Latest News and Blogs
07
Oct
Context Matters: Lessons in the Practicalities of Procedural Fairness
Written by Jennifer Leitch, NSRLP Executive Director; originally published on Slaw, Canada’s online legal magazine.
While there may be...
13
Aug
A Little Rigour Can Go a Long Way… Reflecting on Research Methods in Access to Justice
Written by Jennifer Leitch, NSRLP Executive Director; originally published on Slaw, Canada’s online legal magazine.
At a recent confer...
05
Jun
A Digital Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing: How Artificial Intelligence Is Set to Worsen the Access to Justice Crisis
Written by Rachel Paterson, NSRLP Student Researcher; originally published on Slaw, Canada’s online legal magazine.
The increased pres...
09
May
Virtual Justice
“Virtual Justice: A complex portrait of Canadian self-represented litigant experiences with virtual hearings” is the result of a year-l...
02
Apr
Can Self-Represented Litigants Access Justice? NSRLP’s New Intake Report
Written by Keerthi Chintapalli, NSRLP Law Student Research Assistant; originally published on Slaw, Canada’s online legal magazine.
Si...
20
Feb
Thinking Like a Non-Lawyer: When Plain Language Is Not Enough
Written by Jennifer Leitch, NSRLP Executive Director; originally published on Slaw, Canada’s online legal magazine.
The plain language...
02
Feb
SRL Intake Report 2021-2023
Our latest Self-Represented Litigant (SRL) Intake Report was written by NSRLP Research Assistant Keerthi Chintapalli, with guidance and...
19
Dec
Access to Justice and the Promise of Virtual Proceedings
Written by Jennifer Leitch, NSRLP Executive Director; originally published on Slaw, Canada’s online legal magazine.
The Canadian justi...
Resources for SRLs
19
Jun
What You Need to Know About Affidavits
An affidavit is a form of giving written evidence, sworn under oath. Just as when a person is on the witness stand in court, the depone...
27
Mar
Ordering a Court Transcript
Last year the NSRLP published a research report highlighting the inconsistencies in ordering court transcripts across Canadian province...
01
Nov
Guide for Self-Represented Litigants with Disabilities
We hear all too often from self-represented litigants who are also persons with disabilities (PWDs) - these litigants are forced to dea...
14
Sep
Reading and Understanding Case Reports
A Guide for Self-Represented Litigants
By Margarita Dvorkina & Julie Macfarlane
Why We Publish SRL Primers
One of the NSRL...
07
Nov
Provincial Resources for SRLs
Click here to view our regularly updated Provincial Resources for SRLs.
If you have a suggestion for an additional physical or onlin...
08
Sep
“My Learned Friend”: Building Constructive Working Relationships Between Self-Represented Litigants and Opposing Counsel
We know from our research that many SRLs will find that the other side in the dispute is represented by a lawyer, for some or all of th...
15
Mar
The McKenzie Friend: Choosing and Presenting a Courtroom Companion
NSRLP is proud to present its latest SRL guide, The McKenzie Friend: Choosing and Presenting a Courtroom Companion written by Judith Da...
11
Feb
Mindfulness Training and Stress-Reduction for SRLs
We are pleased and proud to announce another new NSRLP resource written and developed specifically for SRLs. "What Can Mindfulness Trai...