Today Julie talks to Justice David Price of the Ontario Superior Court, where he sits as a family court judge, about two issues that regularly raise anxieties and challenges for self-represented litigants: how to reduce the chances of being ordered to pay the costs of the other side, and how to organize and present arguments in court. Justice Price presents clear information for members of the public who are unable to afford expert assistance and are obliged to represent themselves. We also asked two SRLs, Jana Saracevic and Elizabeth Roberts, to comment on Justice Price’s “tutorial” and to reflect on how they learned to find their way through the system without this information.
In other news: Ontario, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia celebrate their A2J weeks with fantastic events across the country this month.
Related:
Ontario Superior Court information for family litigants
NSRLP’s CanLII Primer (Also available in French)
James Cooper (lawyer who works with the primarily self-represented) has written an interesting article on SRLs (whom he describes as “unprivileged litigants”) and the issue of settlement efforts and costs.
Other News:
The Action Group on Access to Justice (Ontario)
Saskatchewan Access to Justice Week (University of Saskatchewan)
A2J Week British Columbia (Law Foundation of BC)
Jumping Off the Ivory Tower is produced and hosted by Julie Macfarlane and Dayna Cornwall; production and editing by Brauntë Petric; Other News produced and hosted by Ali Tejani; promotion by Moya McAlister and Ali Tejani.
justice will be accessable to all when it doesn’t cost you punitively to access the justice system., if the justice system prefers that only lawyers come to court,, they should be responsible for providing those lawyers,, no matter what the issue. And no evidence that is expert evidence should be allowed into any court without examination of it. Without full transparent discovery of all elements of expert evidence,, it can very easily be claimed to be something it is not., accurate., or not.. only the discovery process will tell. these are my thoughts on access to justice,