"Pro Se" is Not a Disease

This is not an attack on lawyers (after all, a few are among my real friends [and real friends are scant in my life]); but it is what it is.

In case you're not familiar with the term pro se, it is a Latin phrase meaning "for oneself." In courts of law in the United States, one has the right to represent oneself without a lawyer. One is referred to as a pro se party. I am one.

Since February I have been involved in a very unpleasant case. I was sued by a person who made an agreement with me in very specific terms and from day one chose not to honor the agreement. I am even enjoined by a court order from speaking of my adversary, even though what I have spoken of my adversary has been the truth. My adversary retained counsel who repeatedly broke rules of our local courts, rules of disciplinary conduct and the rules of civil procedure of our state. I repeatedly called attention to that counsel's disregard of the rules. Yet, who gets the blame when we stand at the bench for the "umpteenth" time? Why, the pro separty of course. Me.

So what's the big deal? Well, consider the cost. And not in terms of money. We all know most legal matters are very expensive and beyond the ability of most folks with modest means to pay for. Consider the cost in terms of your rights as a citizen of this country. Consider your peace of mind and that of your family and friends, and how you, and by extension they, live your legal skirmishes. Consider how the folks who write our laws (more often than not, lawyers), have made them so convoluted and difficult to understand that most folks simply cannot. In fact, our statutes and codes are so needlessly wordy that one has to chop them up into little pieces to attempt to grasp the meaning of the whole. (They're kind of like the gibberish those purportedly well-meaning rich-but-socially-conscious idiots in Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged offer up as fodder for why doing business and making profits are to be considered with so much disdain.) Consider that just a few weeks ago one of my lawyers and I toiled over a particular section of the Texas Business Corporations Act for more than an hour, arguing about the establishment of a time line, and trying to make sure that we "got it." We could not help ourselves, as we marveled at the stupidly twisted verbiage that our lawmakers passed. (They must have had a really bad day that day.) Alright -- I'm getting off topic here. But if you have read my blogs, you know that getting off topic just happens all too often. Chalk it up to my unprofessionalism (more about that later) -- after all I am a lowly amateur writer. But . . . I'm really not that far off base. Here's why:

This is one of those instances where ignorance is not bliss. Think about this: we elect people to our legislature. They spend their time doing God only knows what -- that is to say any, and every thing not in the best interest of their constituents (that's you and me [note to self: write a blog about the American people]) but for the betterment of their buddies and themselves. Then, they regurgitate some garbage that would put most teachers and professors of English or any writing course in cardiac arrest. So . . . when you have that little conflict, and you take it upon yourself to take care of it without consulting a lawyer (how dare you!!), you are castigated for exercising your right to do so -- by 1) the judiciary (those folks who were first lawyers and now sit on the bench and selectively enforce the rules their peers have promulgated); 2) the members of the bar (those folks, most of whom lied, cheated and stole their way through law school, somehow managed to pass the bar exam and get an 8-digit number [in Texas] from the State Bar, and who selectively follow the rules their peers have promulgated, and who condescend to those who did not lie, cheat and steal their way through law school, but still manage to have a modicum of understanding with regard to the verbiage their peers have spewed forth and tagged as law). And then, there are the folks who think they have the upper hand because they have retained a lawyer. I will speak only of one -- my adversary.

By the way, my adversary no longer has a lawyer. Why? Well, I'm glad you asked. It was all my fault, of course. Opposing counsel withdrew, stating in her motion to withdraw that I am unprofessional and belligerent (translated: I did not allow counsel to interrupt me when we conferred, and I called to the attention of counsel and the court every broken rule -- especially when the breaking of such a rule was to give counsel an unfair advantage over this writer. The bottom line is that counsel thought this case would be a cakewalk. Fortunately for me, I am very comfortable with my belligerence and unprofessionalism -- that is, if it means that I persist and leave no stone unturned (including citing all rules broken by the enemy) and I follow the rules and exhaust all possibilities to sustain my cause. AND --- if it means I refuse to allow anyone to condescend to me or even speak over me because she managed to pass the bar. Whoop-de-doo.

This blog was started a few months ago, but today, July 27, 2009, is a fitting day to finish it, because today for the umpteenth time I have stood at the bench and been told to get a lawyer. The funny thing about it is that I had all my ducks in a row -- pre-trial motions, current pleadings, a cheat sheet for objections, three sets of exhibits, rules of civil procedure, rules of evidence, my entire file -- everything. I was cool, calm, collected and all of that good stuff. The butterflies I have experienced at hearings previously were nonexistent. I could actually look at my adversary without my stomach flipping. If I were clueless as to how to proceed (like my adversary), I could well understand the Court telling me to "get a lawyer." But competence could not possibly have anything do with such a mandate that in itself attempts to deprive me of my constitutional right to represent myself. The only thing I can think of is that by not having a lawyer, I am depriving a member of the bar the right to my truly-hard-earned dollars. News flash: that right has not been conferred by me upon any member of the bar; therefore, thatright simply does not exist, nor has it ever.

Why is this so important? Consider the way of laws and regulations these days. They are monstrous tentacles ferreting through every aspect of our society -- going to and fro seeking some weak spot in the membrane of our very being -- some place to which they can attach and suck dry the very essence of what lies beyond. Watch out for what might come in the future. The day may come when it is mandatory for all to have a lawyer for even minor traffic offenses. (Note to self: find a lawyer to defend against photo traffic ticket.) The county law library will be closed to all except card-carrying members of the state bar. It will be illegal to own even a Black's Law Dictionary -- especially the older editions that have not been purged and bastardized.

Am I writing of all lawyers? Absolutely not. But lawyers are just like everyone else -- they come in all shapes, sizes, colors and degrees of good, bad, mediocre, competent, expert, lazy, unethical -- blah, blah, blah. Just as I'd rather have a friend's husband do a "brake job" on my Jeep (because he's honest about whether or not my Jeep really needs a brake job), or I'd rather ride out a bout of sinusitis instead of running to see my doctor, I ought to have a choice as to whether or not I want to spend money on a lawyer.

The bottom line is this: the fruits of my labor are mine to consume as I wish. If I do myself harm in the courtroom, it is the bed I make and the one in which I will lie. On the other hand, if a lawyer, through incompetence or carelessness, causes me harm in the courtroom, it is the bedhe makes, but still the one in which I must lie. It is often said that the person who represents himself in court has a fool for a client. That may be so, but as I am my own woman, I'd rather be my own fool than the fool of one for whose services I have paid. Take my adversary, for instance . . .