| An Introduction to Representing Yourself in Court |
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2 Who's Who in the Court Process |
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3 The Court Process, a Big Picture Overview |
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3.1 Step one: Filing in court |
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3.2 Step two: Serve your complaint or answer |
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3.3 Step three: Prepare, file, and serve any urgent or other pre-trial requests to the court |
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3.4 Step four: Thal preparation |
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3.6 Step six: Negotiation and mediation |
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3.7 Step seven: Pre-trial conference |
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3.9 Step nine: Appeals, enforcement of court orders, and modifications |
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4 Administrative and Quasi-Judicial Proceedings |
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5.1 Is there a legal issue? |
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7 So, Is It Time to Go to Court? |
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7.1 Factors indicating it is time to go to court |
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7.2 Factors indicating it is not time to go to court |
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| Part One: Before the Trial |
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1 | (126) |
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1 Settlement and Alternatives to Court |
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3 | (20) |
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3 | (2) |
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1.1 Is settlement win-win? |
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4 | (1) |
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1.2 What are the disadvantages of a settlement? |
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5 | (1) |
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2 How to Get to Settlement: It Takes Two |
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5 | (1) |
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2.1 When Is a deal a deal? Offer and acceptance |
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6 | (1) |
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6 | (1) |
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3 Types of Alternative Dispute Resolution |
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6 | (7) |
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6 | (3) |
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3.2 The art of written negotiations: Letters and emails |
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9 | (4) |
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4 Bill Eddy's BIFF Response |
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13 | (1) |
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5 What is Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)? |
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14 | (4) |
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14 | (2) |
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16 | (1) |
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17 | (1) |
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17 | (1) |
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18 | (1) |
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6 Writing an Enforceable Agreement or a Consent Judgment |
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18 | (5) |
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6.1 Elements of a settlement agreement |
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18 | (2) |
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6.2 Elements of a consent order |
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20 | (1) |
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6.3 Consent order or settlement agreement? |
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21 | (2) |
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23 | (8) |
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1 Overview of Where Law Comes From |
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24 | (1) |
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2 How to Know Which Laws Apply |
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25 | (4) |
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2.1 Step one: To get a general idea of what the law is, start with resources designed for self-represented persons |
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25 | (1) |
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2.2 Step two: Use the resources lawyers use |
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26 | (1) |
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2.3 Step three: Go to the statutes |
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26 | (2) |
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2.4 Step four: Case law and the courts |
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28 | (1) |
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29 | (2) |
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31 | (16) |
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1 Where Do I Start? Plaintiff's Perspective |
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31 | (8) |
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33 | (1) |
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33 | (1) |
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1.3 How do I write my claim? |
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34 | (5) |
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2 Where Do I Start? Defendant's Perspective |
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39 | (4) |
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42 | (1) |
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2.2 Adding another party: Cross-claims |
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42 | (1) |
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2.3 Filing a claim or an answer |
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43 | (1) |
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43 | (1) |
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43 | (1) |
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44 | (2) |
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46 | (1) |
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47 | (14) |
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1 Where Are the Good (Competent) Lawyers? |
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47 | (1) |
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2 How to Get Free (or Low-Cost) Legal Advice |
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48 | (5) |
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2.1 Types of low- or no-cost legal assistance |
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49 | (4) |
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3 How to Deal with a Lawyer on the Other Side |
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53 | (1) |
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54 | (1) |
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5 When Don't You Need a Lawyer? |
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55 | (1) |
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56 | (5) |
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5 Discovery: Sharing Evidence and Information |
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61 | (26) |
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61 | (1) |
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61 | (4) |
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2.1 Determining admissibility: Learning the law |
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63 | (1) |
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2.2 What is hearsay, and is it always bad? |
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64 | (1) |
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2.3 Weight: Not all evidence was created equal |
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65 | (1) |
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3 What Evidence Gets Shared in Discovery and How? |
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65 | (4) |
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3.1 Documents and other physical information that should be disclosed: Yours and theirs |
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67 | (1) |
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3.2 Information that should generally not be disclosed: Privileged, confidential, or irrelevant |
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68 | (1) |
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4 How Do You Do Discovery? |
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69 | (11) |
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4.1 When you have information to be disclosed |
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69 | (1) |
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4.2 Information the other side holds |
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70 | (1) |
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4.3 Documents in the possession of a non-party: Third-party documents |
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71 | (1) |
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4.4 Asking questions: Oral and written discovery |
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71 | (9) |
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5 Preparation for a Deposition |
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80 | (2) |
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82 | (2) |
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6.1 Answering requests for admission |
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83 | (1) |
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7 What to Do When the Other Side Isn't Complying with Discovery Rules |
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84 | (3) |
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6 Motions and Temporary Orders |
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87 | (26) |
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88 | (6) |
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89 | (3) |
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92 | (2) |
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94 | (3) |
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2.1 Motions in writing with notice |
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94 | (3) |
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97 | (1) |
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4 Drafting an Affidavit for a Motion |
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97 | (3) |
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4.1 Parts of an affidavit |
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98 | (2) |
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100 | (1) |
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101 | (1) |
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7 Scheduling, Filing, Service |
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102 | (5) |
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7.1 Responding to a filed and served written motion |
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103 | (1) |
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7.2 How do you present a filed and served motion in court? |
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104 | (3) |
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107 | (1) |
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9 How Do You Make an Oral Motion When the Trial Has Already Started? |
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108 | (3) |
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9.1 Typical oral motions in court |
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109 | (2) |
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111 | (1) |
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11 What If the Other Side Ignores a Temporary Order? Contempt |
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112 | (1) |
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7 Pre-Trial Procedures, Preparation, and Your Trial Book |
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113 | (14) |
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113 | (1) |
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114 | (1) |
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3 Pre-Trial Hearings and Conferences |
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115 | (3) |
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3.1 Settlement conference before a judge |
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115 | (3) |
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3.2 Pre-trial conference and brief |
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118 | (1) |
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118 | (1) |
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4.1 What you need to prove and how to prove it |
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119 | (1) |
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5 Your Trial Book: Get (and Stay) Organized! |
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119 | (6) |
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5.1 How to make your Trial Book |
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120 | (5) |
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125 | (1) |
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7 Other Pre-trial Preparation |
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125 | (2) |
| Part Two: The Trial and Beyond |
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127 | (66) |
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129 | (8) |
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1 Typical Order of Trial Proceedings |
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129 | (1) |
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130 | (1) |
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130 | (1) |
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131 | (1) |
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131 | (1) |
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132 | (5) |
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132 | (1) |
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133 | (3) |
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136 | (1) |
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137 | (24) |
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137 | (1) |
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138 | (10) |
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2.1 Improper leading questions on direct examination |
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143 | (1) |
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144 | (1) |
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2.3 You forgot a question? |
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145 | (1) |
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2.4 The witness can't remember something |
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146 | (1) |
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147 | (1) |
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148 | (4) |
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149 | (1) |
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3.2 How do you cross-examine? |
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150 | (2) |
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152 | (1) |
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153 | (4) |
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5.1 Objections to questions |
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154 | (2) |
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5.2 Objections to testimony |
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156 | (1) |
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5.3 What to do when the other side objects |
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156 | (1) |
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6 Incriminating Testimony |
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157 | (1) |
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157 | (4) |
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158 | (3) |
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161 | (12) |
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1 Getting in Your Evidence |
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161 | (3) |
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164 | (1) |
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164 | (1) |
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3 Photographs, Voicemails, etc. |
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165 | (1) |
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4 Documents on Cross-Examination |
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166 | (1) |
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5 Introducing Documents by Agreement |
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166 | (1) |
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6 Strategizing with Your Witnesses about Exhibits |
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167 | (1) |
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168 | (2) |
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8 Common Objections to Exhibits |
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170 | (3) |
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11 Closing Arguments and Wrapping Up |
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173 | (10) |
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1 What Is a Closing Argument? |
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173 | (2) |
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2 The Defendant's Closing |
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175 | (2) |
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175 | (1) |
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176 | (1) |
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2.3 Part 3: The conclusion |
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177 | (1) |
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3 Logistics: The Defendant Is Done so What Happens Next? |
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177 | (1) |
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4 The Judge during Closing |
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178 | (1) |
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179 | (1) |
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6 Proposed Findings and Draft Proposed Order |
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179 | (1) |
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180 | (1) |
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181 | (2) |
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12 You Won (You Lost): What Next? |
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1 You Won! Now What? Enforcing a Court Order |
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183 | (2) |
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1.1 Going to court to enforce the order |
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184 | (1) |
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2 You Lost: Do You Have to Do What the Order Says? |
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185 | (1) |
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186 | (1) |
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4 Post-Judgment Agreements |
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186 | (1) |
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187 | (1) |
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187 | (4) |
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188 | (1) |
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6.2 What if you are served with a Notice of Appeal? |
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189 | (1) |
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6.3 What happens to the trial court's order while you are waiting for your appeal hearing? |
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190 | (1) |
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6.4 Is an appeal worth it? A lawyer can help |
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190 | (1) |
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190 | (1) |
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7 Modifications: Changing the Court's Order in the Future |
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191 | (1) |
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191 | (1) |
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9 What Do You Do with All the Stuff? |
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191 | (1) |
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192 | (1) |
| Download Kit |
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193 | |
| Samples |
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36 | (21) |
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57 | |
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