[wd_asp id=1]
Be assertive
- Be firm, direct, and clear about what you want, and take responsibility for your case.
- Speak in a strong, clear, and confident voice as if you’re in charge.
- Make eye contact, stand tall and erect with your shoulders back, and your head high.
- Know laws, cases, and courtroom protocol, so you’ll know the language to use.
- Practice.
Appear fearless in court
- Fear is one of the most harmful emotions you’ll have, but don’t let it get the best of you.
- Protect your case and your rights by speaking out.
- Displaying fearlessness makes you more assertive and more self-confident, and it throws lawyers off guard.
Stay focused
- Review and understand procedures, case law, definitions, and statutes
- Find ways within the law to do what needs to be done despite how a lawyer is acting.
- Stay focused and calm. It doesn’t pay to react to every instance of lawyer delays, stonewalling, ignoring of standard practices, or even insults.
- Respond only when not doing so will hurt your case.
Transcript
Hi. I\’m Portia, and welcome to introductory legal skills, the second course in our series on civil litigation.
Going to court is daunting.
Lesson one, the right attitude is designed to put you in a mindset to be successful no matter how intimidating the process.
Today, we\’ll discuss ways that you can be assertive in litigation, appear fearless in court, and stay focused on what\’s important.
Why be assertive?
In litigation, assertive people are firm, direct, and clear about what they want and need, and take responsibility for their own cases.
This attitude gets respect from both lawyers and judges.
Assertiveness requires the right tone of voice. You should have a good delivery, expressing yourself firmly and confidently.
A quality of speech that lacks fear, and a strong voice.
Push those words out as if you\’re in charge.
Use the appropriate body language.
Don\’t cower to lawyers and judges.
Make eye contact.
Widen your stance.
Stand tall and erect with your shoulders back and your head high.
You\’re representing yourself.
Be proud of it.
To use appropriate language in court and in writing, you need to know laws, cases, courtroom protocol, and written legal formatting.
Remember when you were a kid and learned yo yo tricks like the sleeper, around the world, rock the baby, and so on? Once you learned them, you were confident using them and showing them off.
Same thing for litigation.
Practice and show your stuff.
At a hearing, a judge and lawyer were discussing issues in the case when the self represented party to the case interrupted.
The judge told the litigant not to interrupt, but the litigant kept politely interrupting.
His theory was that he needed to assert himself into the conversation or he would be left out.
He reminded the judge that they were there on his motion.
He had the judge\’s attention and respect thereafter.
Just the attempt to appear fearless, makes it easier for you to express yourself, speak out, stay on offense, and fight when you need to.
Fear is one of the most harmful emotions you\’ll have as a self represented litigant, but don\’t let it get the best of you.
Protect your case and your rights by speaking out, especially when you see the case going in the wrong direction.
In litigation, you have to fight. Whether your plaintiff or defendant, find opportunities to use a sword to advance your case.
Litigation is a combative situation.
The lawyers for the other side will be assertive and will expect you to be timid.
Don\’t be. Be fearless.
Fight.
It makes you more assertive and more self confident, and it throws lawyers off guard.
An example of fearlessness.
In one case, a lawyer filed a motion referring to the defendant in the case as borrower.
The judge who signed the order granting the motion, picked up the language also referring to the defendant as borrower.
During the hearing on the motion, the pro se defendant let the judge have it, saying that whoever signed the order should be disqualified over the borrower language.
The chasing judge reverse the decision.
That\’s fearless.
In order to properly describe orally and in writing why you\’re right, you need to stay focused.
How do you do that?
Know your law, stay calm, and choose your battles carefully.
Know your law.
This is a general refrain throughout these lessons because it\’s important.
Review and understand procedures, case law, definitions, and statutes as they relate to the facts in your case.
Knowing courtroom protocol is also useful.
Stay calm.
Some tactics that lawyers use seem unfair or downright mean. These tactics can distract, frustrate, or anger you. Don\’t get into unnecessary arguments.
Rather, find ways within the law to do what needs to be done despite how a lawyer is acting.
Eventually, you\’ll calmly describe why the judge should rule in your favor.
Choose your battles carefully.
Though tempting, it doesn\’t pay to react to every instance of lawyer delays, stonewalling, ignoring of standard practices, or even insults.
Choose to respond only when not doing so will hurt your case.
In short, fight the lawyer with the law and the facts.
In one case, a pro se litigant always scheduled a court reporter for hearings on his motions because he wanted everything to be recorded.
The opposing attorney would also hire a reporter who was directed to arrive very early to get there before the pro se litigants reporter.
Since only one court reporter was allowed, the pro se litigant would pay and dismiss his court reporter.
This happened several times in a row.
One day, the pro se litigant decided that it didn\’t make sense to hire a reporter because the opponent would have one.
So he didn\’t schedule a reporter for an important hearing.
For the first time, no reporter appeared.
It turned out that the attorney for the opposing side had been calling the pro se litigants court reporting agency before hearings to determine if he scheduled a reporter.
The day he didn\’t, the lawyer canceled his in hopes that the hearing wouldn\’t be recorded.
Rather than make a big deal of it, the pro se litigant called to have a reporter sent over and had the courtroom wait.
The reporter arrived within ten minutes.
The pro se litigant went on to successfully argue the case without any reference to the lawyer trick.
That is focusing on what\’s important.
To summarize, this lesson was about being assertive in your tone of voice, body language, and vocabulary.
It was about being fearless.
That is speaking out, staying on the offense, and fighting when necessary.
Finally, this lesson discussed focusing on knowing the law, staying calm, and choosing your battles carefully.