Report comment

The key point I take from this report (and article) is;

'...the stress, responsibility and loneliness of going to court without representation can mean ‘litigants in person achieve worse outcomes compared with their represented counterparts’.

The above importantly doesn't mention one further critical factor.

I'm not your 'Mr Anonymous' Bel but you contribute to the lie that solicitors don't add value where that really isn't the case. A law degree isn't important but knowledge and experience really is. You can and will only get so far with google however commercially savvy and intelligent you are. How do you value your time? You're quick to criticise solicitors but the reality clearly must be that you don't value your own time at all. How many hours must you have spent toiling to get up to speed on process and law? Clearly many hours. Do you service your own car too?

If you're happy to work for nothing then fair enough but you shouldn't be critical of others who won't or can't afford to do so. What luxury. Us mere mortals took years to qualify and our experience adds value to our clients by securing better outcomes. Incidentally that's precisely the conclusion of this report and therefore back to the real issue here- in reality it shouldn't be surprising that unrepresented LIPS achieve worse outcomes because in simple terms they don't know what they're doing.

The conclusion is that all LIPS would be better off trying to obtain legal advice from qualified professionals and I'm happy to endorse that.