Choosing and Working with a Lawyer

Although a lawyer may not be absolutely necessary, having a knowledgeable attorney who will fight for you in court can impact the legal process and experience. If you are representing yourself, it can be difficult to speak up in front of a judge or to know what your legal rights are in the court process.

In some cases, you may be able to fill out the necessary court forms on your own. For civil protection orders, for example, the forms are often designed to be filled out by a person without a lawyer and can be fairly straightforward. However, for cases that are more complicated, such as divorce, filling out the forms correctly and knowing what to write in the forms to try to get the best outcome can be challenging to do by yourself. Also, once the court case has begun, the other party may file legal papers (motions) that need to be answered in a certain legal format, which can be difficult to do without a lawyer.

A lawyer can be especially important if the other party has a lawyer or if the case cannot be resolved and the judge is going to hold a hearing or trial. There are complicated “rules of evidence” that spell out what type of statements, documents, or other evidence a judge can accept (admit) in court, which a lawyer would know.