Would you please explore this topic? Below are additional selected citations in chronological order. Benjamin Franklin Fredd Wayne : Abraham who? Whoever, he stole it from me. Image Notes: Picture of gavel and books from succo at Pixabay. Image has been resized. Update History: On August 7, the citation was added to the article. Sare, T. Sawbridge, B. Took, M. Gillyflower, A. Churchil, and J. Many of the members of the Bar were sole practitioners in small law practices who handled all legal matters, from wills to criminal proceedings.
However, with the dawn of specialty litigation practices, such as anti-trust, securities and environmental, the generalist trial lawyer has been replaced by the specialist. Therefore, most practitioners when confronted by problems in their individual lives that are outside their practice area would be well served to engage an expert. For example, it is generally the case that an attorney engaged in a specialized practice such as employment law would be a poor family lawyer representing himself in his own divorce.
Similarly, while transactional matters were simple at one time, changes in the law, the enactment of voluminous regulations and the propagation of federal statutes that govern virtually every business or commercial transaction have made these matters the realm of experts.
Thus, even transactional lawyers, when handling a matter on their own behalf or for a partnership or business entity in which they're a stakeholder or member, should engage specialized assistance. Because of the specialized nature of most of their practices, transactional attorneys often do not have the experience necessary to represent themselves in matters outside their specialty areas.
For example, a securities attorney should probably not handle the legal documentation involved in the sale of his home. Perhaps, he would not understand the important distinctions between a general warranty deed and a special warranty deed or complex title issues. He could very easily make errors in the transaction adversely affecting him and his other partners. In comedies, the pro se character often engages in Courtroom Antics that would get him thrown into jail in Real Life , but because it is Played for Laughs , the character will often get away with it.
Often involves Talking to Himself when the character cross-examines himself. And it is almost guaranteed that, in response to the judge telling the character that he is "out of order", the character will yell back at the judge, " No , you're out of order! See also Informed Self Diagnosis , the equivalent trope for medical doctors.
Smith, I have no problem with you representing yourself, but would you please, for the love of God, stop jumping in and out of that chair! Rimmer: If only I'd hired a smarter lawyer, instead of the brain-dead, pompous, stupid-haired git I ended up with.
Lister: You defended yourself! Skeeter: Gonzo's lawyer is cracked. Piggy: And his client could use a little glue, too. Petey: You know, they say that a lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client. Since it's Dr. Dinosaur , he doesn't exactly impress anyone: he carries his papers in a briefcase labeled "My Law Box" and calls a Surprise Witness who happens to be a laser-shooting dinosaur.
The judge is right in the middle of holding him in contempt when all hell breaks loose. Dinosaur: [waving around his papers at random] You are dazzled by my array of very legal documents. Smith, I have no problem with you representing yourself, but would you please, for the love of God, stop jumping in and out of that chair!
Comic Strips. Calvin and Hobbes : Referenced in one strip: after Calvin nearly hits Susie with a snowball, he defends himself by saying "I didn't do it! I never threw that!
You can't prove I threw it! Besides, I missed, didn't I? One Foxtrot arc has Bumbling Dad Roger outraged at a parking ticket and decides to represent himself in court, which he will do by perfecting his Perry Mason act. Thankfully he doesn't go through with it, the last panel is his pissed-off wife digging through her purse for the relatively tiny fine. Films — Animation. He is so confident that his star witness Mr. Winkie will exonerate him that he's already making his way out of the courtroom in mid-testimony when the duplicitous Winkie claims that Toad tried to sell him the stolen motorcar, and the doors slam shut right on Toad's face.
Films — Live-Action. The Addams Family : "They say a man who represents himself has a fool for a client. His self-cross-examination is actually one of the less absurd scenes in this movie — except for the fact he's his own hostile witness. God: If it pleases the court — and even if it doesn't please the court — I'm God.
Howard Roark from The Fountainhead does this twice , once in the trial over the Stoddard Temple and once in the trial over Cortlandt. He loses the first case but wins the second. Ayn Rand seems to have liked this trope, as she also used it in Atlas Shrugged when Hank Rearden defended himself in a non-judicial hearing for violating government restrictions on the sale of Rearden Metal.
In the G. Chesterton story "The Ecstatic Thief", the eponymous thief defends himself successfully. In the first Tim Dorsey novel, a high school student represents himself and his friends on drunk driving and possession of alcohol charges, despite having never once even looked at a law book before getting arrested.
He succeeds in getting them all off on a technicality and grows up to be a DA. In the third book in the Babylon 5 PsiCorps trilogy, Bester defends himself in a war crimes trial. His closing statement actually gets an ovation. While he doesn't get himself completely off the hook, his sentence is reduced from death to life in prison while on sleeper telepathic suppression drugs. The backstory of Mr. Slant the zombie lawyer in Discworld is that he defended himself, lost, and was executed. He cannot rest until his descendants agree to pay the bill.
Don't Go to Jail! Ultimately, the book advises against pro se , advises how to pull off pro se anyway, and describes historical pro se hits and misses, as much as it does explain how to work with a defense attorney. The "fool for a client" quote is mentioned right up front, and it's even implied that the phrase is really meant to warn lawyers against the temptation to represent themselves. In The Dresden Files short story Jury Duty , Hamilton Luther decides to represent himself in his murder case since all lawyers he talked to wanted him to do a plea deal.
He, however, wants a not guilty verdict, given that his murder of Curtis Black wasn't done in cold blood but because Black, a White Court vampire, was kidnapping an year-old girl to feed on her.
While Luther did a decent job, the jury was unmoved and if Harry wasn't on the jury note Only possible by Marcone manipulating things, given that Luther was one of his loyal goon who is now going legit after a prison stint when he won't rat out Marcone and prevented the White Court from kidnapping the girl note Which made the assistant district attorney and his assistant, who is the White Court vampire that orchestrate the kidnapping, drop the charges after Harry caused a mistrial in fear of the girl being brought in as a witness , he would have been found guilty.
In Saving Max , Danielle dismisses Sevillas and represents herself during the hearing while she shows the court the evidence against Marianne. The Law of Innocence : Defense attorney Mickey Haller represents himself after he is accused of murder. Mickey says "Maybe I did have a fool for a client" but still feels like he has to handle his own defense. He does at least get his law partner Jennifer Aronson, and later his ex-wife Maggie McPherson, to sit alongside him.
Live-Action TV. Our Miss Brooks : In "Trial By Jury" a remake of the radio episode "Traffic Court Reckless Driving" , Miss Brooks' defends herself in court after being given a ticket for "speeding, going through a red light, reckless driving, driving on the sidewalk, and hitting a fruit stand.
Miss Brooks' expertise as an English teacher instead of a lawyer is evident here, at one point she recites Portia's speech from The Merchant of Venice. Conklin is on the jury. And he's furious at having to abandon plans for a fishing trip "just because some stubborn female insists on a jury trial for a traffic ticket! Conklin is at least partially impressed by Miss Brooks' recitation: Mr. Conklin : Bravo. Rimmer: If only I'd hired a smarter lawyer, instead of the brain-dead, pompous, stupid-haired git I ended up with.
Lister: You defended yourself! Cho: If you represent yourself, you're an idiot. Jane: Actually, it was "A man who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client. Driver: I sued for my citizenship, so I have a very special appreciation for the law. I wiped the floor with the US government, counselor.
I'm gonna do the same with you. Judge Weems: Mr. Bolt, do you know what they say about a man who represents himself? Jason: Yes sir, that he has a fool for a client.
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