Information About National Self-Represented Litigants Project Blog

Recent Posts

• Feeling the AngerNovember 29, 2018

  I understand why so many people are so angry. The legal system in Canada has let down its users, the communities it serves, and its own values of fairness and equality. So many people now experience the courts or lawyers or the law as a club that excludes them, a tight clique that always looks down … Read more »

• The Costs of Self-RepresentationNovember 15, 2018

  This week’s guest blog is written by a Self-Represented Litigant, who prefers to remain anonymous. I recently had the misfortune of having to file documentation in my family law case in Ontario. In addition to the trauma of the experience that led me to that moment, I was forced to make a decision a … Read more »

• Learning How to Speak to Clients Like Real PeopleNovember 7, 2018

  I’ve just finished teaching a new class this Fall. The class is simply called “Clients”. It focuses on six “core” client skills – 1) empathy, 2) advocacy and commitment, 3) counselling, 4) collaboration, 5) “best interests” negotiation, and 6) recognizing the impact of power, gender and culture in t … Read more »

• Continuing the Dialogue, Five Years OnOctober 24, 2018

  This week’s blog is co-written by Julie and SRL and NSRLP Advisory Board member Jennifer Muller. As 15 SRLs and 45 justice system professionals – lawyers, judges, policymakers, academics, public legal education providers, legal aid directors and more – gathered in Windsor two weeks ago for the secon … Read more »

• How the Kavanaugh Hearing is an Access to Justice TravestyOctober 3, 2018

  At the beginning of this season, I wrote a blog arguing for the importance of framing the A2J debate as a narrative about power – who has it, who doesn’t, and what the consequences are. I could not have imagined that within a month we would be witnessing one of the most remarkable examples of power … Read more »