Category Self-Represented Litigants

Canadian Journal of Law and Society Publishes Special Issue on People-Centred Justice

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A new open access special issue on people-centred justice has been published by the Canadian Journal of Law and Society. The issue covers almost a dozen topics including:

  • People-Centred Justice: Reimagining Law, Institutions and Process by Andrew Pilliar and Michelle Lawrence
  • People-Centered Justice in International Assistance: Rule-of-Law Path Dependencies or New Paths to Justice for All? by Adrian Di Giovanni and Maaike De Langen
  • Person-Centred Justice and Dispute Resolution: The Potential of Lay Courts by Jérémy Boulanger-Bonnelly
  • Towards People-Centered Justice: The Conflict Resolution Routes of People Facing Legal Problems by Megan Capp and Yvon Dandurand
  • Using Social Media as a Tool to Inform Person-Centred Justice by Matthew Dylag
  • Court Form Accessibility: Adopting, Designing and Evaluating Online Guided Pathways by Amy Salyzyn, Jacquelyn Burkell, Esti Azizi and David Westcott
  • Welfarism and People-Centred Justice by Noel Semple

The special issue is available online here: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/canadian-journal-of-law-and-society-la-revue-canadienne-droit-et-societe/issue/1A0FBAF126BB8296AC0466ACA65CB67C.

Ontario’s Court of Appeal and Pro Bono Ontario Announce Amicus Program for Self-Reps

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The Court of Appeal of Ontario and Pro Bono Ontario have announced that Pro Bono Ontario’s Amicus program will once again be running at the Court of Appeal.

As part of the re-launched Amicus program, lawyers volunteering with Pro Bono Ontario “will act as duty counsel and appear as amicus curiae, or ‘friends of the court’, on a pro bono (free) basis”. This service will be available to self-represented litigants at Ontario’s Court of Appeal on Wednesdays.

To read the announcement on the Court of Appeal website, visit: https://www.ontariocourts.ca/coa/pro-bono/.

Quebec Announces $80M to Improve Access to Justice

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Quebec’s Ministry of Justice, together with the Chambre des notaires du Québec and the Barreau du Québec have announced a commitment of $80 million through 2029 to support better access to justice for Quebecers.

A significant percentage of this funding will support access to justice for self-represented litigants, with priority given to litigants in family, civil, and youth protection disputes. Specifically, funding will support the deployment of lawyers and notaries in courthouses to assist self-represented parties and in community organizations “to improve the front-line services on offer”.

An infographic published by Quebec’s Ministry of Justice provides insight on the spending breakdown for the first tranche of funding:

  • $10 M to support projects aimed at improving access to justice. A call for project proposals is forthcoming.
  • $21 M to support timely access to legal support from lawyers and notaries at courthouses.
  • $17.3 M to support the deployment of lawyers and notaries in community-based organizations (such as, for example, consumer or tenant rights organizations).

The press release by Quebec’s Justice Ministry is available here (French only): https://www.quebec.ca/nouvelles/actualites/details/le-ministre-de-la-justice-la-chambre-des-notaires-du-quebec-et-le-barreau-du-quebec-concluent-une-entente-historique-80-millions-de-dollars-pour-favoriser-lacces-a-la-justice-62254.

The infographic outlining first-round spending priorities is available here (French only): https://cdn-contenu.quebec.ca/cdn-contenu/adm/min/justice/programmes/justice-citoyens/PUB_Napperon_Entente_MJQ.pdf.

A news article discussing Quebec’s $80 M access to justice commitment is available (in English) here: https://montreal.citynews.ca/2025/04/15/quebec-support-citizens-represent-themselves-court/.

New U.S. Report Examines How to Make ODR More Accessible to Self-Represented Litigants

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A new U.S.-based study looks at barriers to online dispute resolution (ODR) use for parties with low literacy, and potential strategies to better inform self-represented litigants about ODR. Insights were gathered through focus groups held in geographically and demographically diverse areas in the US.

Among participants in the focus groups:

  • Many were not previously aware ODR.
  • A majority were keen to use ODR as an alternative to going to court, indicating its promising potential.
  • Participants expressed concerns about negotiating through text, citing issues with misunderstandings, uncivil behaviour, information security, and legitimacy.
  • Additional concerns were raised around a lack of internet/technology access and digital literacy.
  • Many participants expressed a desire for a moderator or facilitator to oversee their communications with the opposing party, particularly to help manage emotional reactions such as feelings of being overwhelmed or intimidated.
  • Participants valued plain language with simple definitions of legal terms, step-by-step instructions, bullet point formatting, and visual aids like images and instructional videos.

Making ODR More Accessible to Self-Represented Parties: Focus Group Perspectives by Rachel Feinstein and Jennifer Shack can be downloaded here: https://odr.aboutrsi.org/.

Request for Proposals for the Self-Represented Litigation Network Conference

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The U.S.-based Self-Represented Litigation Network (SRLN) has published a request for proposals for a conference, taking place in Salt Lake City, Utah from September 18-20, 2024.

The 2024 Conference is being held in collaboration with the Utah State Courts, the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah and the Stanford Law School Legal Design Lab. From September 18 to 20, lawyers, judges, clerks of court and court administrators, self-help services professionals, librarians, technologists, funders, and other allied professionals are invited to explore and develop strategies for improving access to justice. The SRLN’s global membership includes more than 2,900 individuals and organizations, representing more than 20 countries. Justice stakeholders are invited to submit a proposal by April 8 to ensure that their jurisdiction and perspectives are represented at the fall conference: https://www.srln.org/node/1608/srln-2024-conference-utah.

Ground-breaking U.S.-Based Research Compares SRL Experiences in Civil Proceedings Online and In-Person

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New research from an interdisciplinary team from Indiana’s Coalition for Court Access provides insights into the experiences of self-represented litigants (SRLs) in-person relative to experiences online. It is among the first studies in the U.S. to gather empirical evidence on the impact of remote technologies on vulnerable and self-represented individuals in civil proceedings. This research comes at a time when many courts are deciding whether to continue to use remote technologies introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic or return fully to in-person proceedings. The research uses a people-centered approach to highlight litigant’s views on this question.

The final report discusses self-represented individuals’ experiences and views on remote hearings vs. in-person proceedings in several areas: (i) Preferences; (ii) Procedural Justice; (iii) Distributive Justice; (iv) Structural Affordances and Barriers; (v) Technological Affordances and Barriers; and (vi) Social Psychological Affordances and Barriers.

A significant percentage of self-represented litigants in the study agree that online civil courts enhance access to justice for individuals without legal representation, particularly for parties navigating high-volume civil dockets. A large percentage of self-represented litigants indicated that they would like to be able to access court remotely in the future. Among study participants, remote proceedings were largely viewed positively, improved individuals’ experiences of procedural justice and outcome satisfaction, and “provided notable conveniences, and decreased the stress of attending court in person”.

The final report, Accessing Justice with Zoom: Experiences and Outcomes in Online Civil Courts by Victor D. Quintanilla, Kurt Hugenberg, Ryan Hutchings & Nedim Yel is available online here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xfb052SVZRTIwv8-03xQyX9UzFjcvcul/view.

National Self-Represented Litigants Project Seeking Feedback on Virtual Hearings

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The National Self-Represented Litigants Project (NSRLP), an organization that works to enhance the responsiveness of the Canadian justice system to self-represented litigants, is seeking feedback from self-represented persons on their experience in virtual hearings.

Since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, courts and tribunals in Canada have increasingly shifted toward virtual processes, replacing many in-person court hearings with meetings via Zoom, Teams, etc. The National Self-Represented Litigants Project is conducting research aimed at understanding self-represented litigants’ experiences with virtual hearings in all legal environments (family, civil, criminal, tribunal). The survey is open to self-represented litigants anywhere in Canada. The survey is anonymous and will take no longer than 15-20 minutes to complete.

The survey is available in English here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/C68ZLYP.

Ce sondage anonyme est disponible en français ici : https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ZDXDMJH.

This research is funded by the McLachlin Fund.

Canadian Judicial Council Publishes 3 New Handbooks for Self-Represented Litigants

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The Canadian Judicial Council (CJC) has announced the publication of a new Civil Law Handbook, Criminal Law Handbook and Family Law Handbook for self-represented litigants. According to a May 5th press release, “[t]he goal of the handbooks is to help those who are not represented by legal counsel to better prepare for court proceedings, and to provide judges with tools they can recommend to such persons to help them access the courts.”

The handbooks were developed in conjunction with the Judicial Education Society of British Columbia and provide useful information on how to obtain electronic access to statutes, regulations and forms.

The three new handbooks are available on the CJC website in English here: https://cjc-ccm.ca/en/what-we-do/initiatives/representing-yourself-court and in French here: https://cjc-ccm.ca/fr/ce-que-nous-faisons/initiatives/se-representer-soi-meme-devant-un-tribunal.

Social Security Tribunal of Canada Publishes Evaluation on Plain Language Decision-Writing

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The Social Security Tribunal of Canada (SST) has published an evaluation on their progress in writing decisions in plain language. The evaluation was spurred by a 2017 external program review that found that many SST clients faced significant obstacles to “receiving administrative justice in a simple, clear and timely manner”. The recently published evaluation is the result of a 3-year effort to shift to a more people-centred model that sees decisions written with less legal jargon and that are easier to understand by people who read at a grade 9 reading level or higher.

The evaluation, published on the Government of Canada website, includes details on the methodology used for the evaluation, the impact of training on different aspects of decision-writing, the readability scorecard for decisions in both English and French, and other information. “An Evaluation of How Easy it is to Read Decisions of the Social Security Tribunal” is available online here: https://www1.canada.ca/en/sst/plainlanguagereport.html.

CBA Report Examines Justice Issues Resulting from the COVID-19 Pandemic

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A new report by the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) examines various impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the delivery of legal services in Canada. The report is the result of consultations and research carried out by the specially formed CBA Task Force on Justice Issues Arising from COVID-19.

The “No Turning Back” report includes a discussion of the ways that Canada and other countries are meeting the justice challenges presented by the pandemic through modified processes and other justice system changes. The report also presents a discussion of ways to mitigate risks that might be associated with the adoption of new measures aimed at delivering justice in the midst of the pandemic.

No Turning Back: CBA Task Force Report on Justice Issues Arising from COVID-19 is available online here: https://www.cba.org/CBAMediaLibrary/cba_na/PDFs/Publications%20And%20Resources/2021/CBATaskForce.pdf.