Law Commons^™

Introducing The Self-Represented Litigant Case Law Database, Lidia Imbrogno, Julie Macfarlane, Sandra Shushani

National Self Represented Litigants Project

The purpose of the SRL Case Law Database is to highlight patterns and themes relevant to SRLs, as evidenced by decisions reported by Canadian courts.

Judges are now routinely being asked to consider issues that relate directly to the Access to Justice challenges of self-represented litigants. Judicial decision-making in cases involving SRLs is a new area of law, and one which presents many challenges for a traditional “strict neutrality” model of judging.

We hear frequently from both SRLs who contact us to share their particular case outcomes, and legal professionals (lawyers, court clerks) who send us particular decisions, in anticipation …

Family Legal Services Review Submission On Unbundling & Legal Coaching, Nikki Gershbain

National Self Represented Litigants Project

Legal coaching is a form of unbundling that, as Justice Bonkalo notes, “is uniquely characterized by the lawyer equipping the client to move his or her own matter forward (by reviewing documents, preparing them for an appearance, etc.) rather than personally doing the work for the client.”

While the practice of legal coaching is not new – lawyers have been doing this informally for years – the term “coaching” was coined by Dr. Julie Macfarlane in her groundbreaking 2013 National Study on SRLs, which included interviews or focus groups with 259 SRLs from Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario, as well …

Family Legal Services Review Submission On Paralegal Practice, Julie Macfarlane

National Self Represented Litigants Project

The National Self-Represented Litigants Project (NSRLP) fully supports the recommendations made by Justice Bonkalo in her Family Legal Services Review to broaden Access to Justice for family litigants.

This submission will focus on the recommendations regarding the extension of paralegal practice into some family cases, and the licensing of qualified paralegals who can offer these services to family litigants. A second and separate submission, written by our Research Fellow Nikki Gershbain, sets out our arguments (framed in the context of the NSRLP’s 2013 Study, “Identifying and Meeting the Needs of Self-Represented Litigants”, and Nikki’s stakeholder consultations) for an institutional adoption …

Access To Justice Annotated Bibliography: May 2017 V.5, Joanna Pawlowski

National Self Represented Litigants Project

The revised and updated version of our Annotated Bibliography on the SRL Phenomenon and Access to Justice.

Tracking The Continuing Trends Of The Self-Represented Litigants Phenomenon: Data From The National Self-Represented Litigants Project, 2015-2016, Julie Macfarlane, Gurleen Gill, Piper Riley Thompson

National Self Represented Litigants Project

From 2011-2013, Dr. Julie Macfarlane conducted a study about experiences of self- representation in Canada in three provinces, Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta. She conducted detailed personal interviews and/or focus group interviews with 259 self-represented litigants (SRLs). Since the Study’s release in 2013 – “The National Self-Represented Litigants Project: Identifying and Meeting the Needs of Self-Represented Litigants” – SRLs continue to contact the National Self-Represented Litigants Project (NSRLP). This led the research team to develop an “Intake Form” in SurveyMonkey, in order to collect information from SRLs across Canada. While the data provided in the Intake Forms is less detailed …