This Way for the Legal Wading Pool

If you’ve been adrift on the internet desperately trying not to drown in the flood of legal information, great news! You’ve found a raft!

No, that’s not really funny. When you’re representing yourself, trying to get to the information you want does often feel like drowning. There’s so much info, mostly not what you need, so you wind up flailing about desperate to stay afloat while the currents try to pull you under. Or you get caught in whirlpools of misinformation. Or weighted down by too much case law.

Few make an intentional choice to dive in and go DIY-lawyering. Most self-reps wind up here because they can’t afford a lawyer or can’t get a lawyer, and their legal issue won’t just go away. Sometimes it’s about fighting for your rights; sometimes it’s about defending yourself against someone else. Regardless, you should know that you’re not alone. Canadian news has been reporting on the increasing numbers of self-reps for decades now: we have a crisis throughout our justice system. Lawyers’ fees are out of reach of a majority of people, and legal aid income thresholds are very low – many cannot qualify because they earn too much. Even if you are financially eligible, legal aid may not be able or allowed to be involved in the type of matter you have. And as for pro bono work… well, anything you’ve heard about pro bono lawyers is almost certainly wrong. Individual lawyers can rarely afford to do cases for free and, when they do, it tends to be cases headed to the Supreme Court of Canada. The image of a stalwart lawyer taking a case for free simply because they believe in the rightness of the client is, sad to say, mainly fiction. So more and more people are washed away in the flood, just like you.

And there’s sharks and rocks in the water…

COVID drove a rapid increase in the amount of legal information available online, and even forced courtrooms into video hearings. Unfortunately, that same rise also increased the number of hazards for self-reps. There are now predators – people who claim to be able to tell you what to do for a much lower fee than a lawyer. Some have track-records in court as self-reps themselves, and some just speak in legalese. Social media is littered with them; they will take your money and, worse, may sink your case as well as your bank balance.

Even if they don’t want money, they can still harm you through the spread of misinformation. Take Romana Didulo, self-proclaimed “Queen of Canada.” She has issued “royal decrees” saying taxes are optional, debts are forgiven, and utilities are free. Those believing her have wound up with serious financial and legal problems. Similarly, people subscribing to the sovereign citizenship movement – also known as Organized Pseudolegal Commercial Arguments – wind up in a lot of trouble when they decide they know ways to nullify the legal system. And artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the world in innumerable ways, including the legal sphere – AI tools seem to offer help preparing documents and finding cases, but the technology isn’t there yet. Chatbots can produce realistic-looking documents with fake cases, and judges aren’t keen on that.

Even well-intentioned people can give you legal advice that’s bad, misleading, or just plain wrong. Which is why, on your legal quest, you will hear this sentence a whole lot: “I cannot provide you with legal advice.” Unless you retain a legal representative, anyone involved in the legal system will tell you this. If they give you advice, they become liable for the results: you could sue, they could get fired, or face discipline from their regulatory body. So everyone from a registry clerk to duty counsel will say, “I cannot give you legal advice.” It quickly gets tired.

But this sentence is also a very useful reminder to you. A legal representative you’ve hired can give you legal advice; advice from anyone else is of questionable value, ranging from personal opinion to bad direction to outright grift. An idea might be thrown at you, but you need to be very careful. Is it a life-preserver or is it bait? As your own representative, you need to know before you snatch it. You need to verify everything, which means knowing what sources to trust. So where do you start?

Public Legal Education and Information (PLEI) organizations, established nationwide by governments, law societies, and courts. You can search online for your province + “public legal information.” Here are a few pages with links to some: Justice Canada; the Supreme Court of Canada, and the Canadian Bar Association. PLEIs provide general information regarding the courts and legal system. These organizations can’t give you legal advice, but many offer referrals to lawyers who offer free consultations, or low-cost services for smaller matters.

Legal aid. Search legal aid office + your region. If you call, ask to speak with duty counsel. Even if they cannot represent you, they can provide information, answer general questions, or maybe refer you to others.

Lawyers. Many lawyers offer free initial consultations. Similar to legal aid, they’ll listen, help you understand your legal situation, and tell you what they would charge. If that’s not workable, they might be able to refer you to other individuals or services. If you’ve been through this process already, it still may be worth it to contact someone new. You can also inquire about “limited scope retainers” – unbundled services where you pay a lower fee for a specific service, such as drafting a motion.

Contact the court. Since COVID, most courts have an online presence. Some have pages just for self-represented litigants. Many courts also have duty counsel. This is a lawyer who you can speak with and get answers to general questions, especially about things like court procedure. You can get information on forms and procedures from the court registry as well. Pro Tip: start by telling the clerk you know what you want to do but not how to do it. That makes it clear that you don’t want legal advice. If they aren’t sure how to proceed, they will usually check with duty counsel. It’s also worth noting that some courts have been adapting their rules, procedures, and particularly forms, with the aim of assisting self-reps.

Law libraries. If you are looking for specific information on legal precedents, or information for lawyers, you can search out your local law society library. Some are open to the public (you may need to book an appointment), and their staff are very knowledgeable. They should be, as they help law students as well as lawyers. Staff can probably guide you toward the information you want.

The National Self-Represented Litigants Project. The NSRLP began as a research study into the increasing number of unlawyered people standing before judges, and evolved into an information and advocacy organization. The NSRLP has a number of resources: guides for self-represented litigants, blog posts, directories, and much more. If you visit, take a few minutes to fill out their SRL survey. The data collected is used to track the issues driving people to self-represent and to understand their experiences in the legal system, and that information is in turn used to advocate for systemic change.

The Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII) is a non-profit managed by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada. You will use it a lot, so bookmark CanLII now. It provides databases of legal precedents, searchable by region and court type. It also offers case commentary and articles. CanLII Connects has articles and discussion papers. The further you get into your matter, the more you will be using CanLII.

There are many groups spread across the country dedicated to helping SRLs or advocating for access to justice (A2J). These differ in area of focus and types of assistance, but even the ones that are far away may have information that is useful to you. They are friendly, and willing to provide answers or send you to someone who can. Add “canada law” and “access to justice” or “A2J” to your web searches.

And there’s much more. Lawyers, legal aid, and courts have taken to social media, posting video guides and explainers on YouTube, TikTok, and embedded on their websites. Some large law firms have online resources, intended for lawyers but available to everyone, or even written specifically for the public. Some law schools offer free online courses. You can also buy used law books online from a variety of vendors. Even if the book is not the current edition, it can give you the education you need. Pro Tip: check the reading lists for law schools.

If you are wondering about the legitimacy of advice or an individual, fact checking is easy. Search their name in CanLII – people who are legal professionals should appear in case law. Or check their online presence. Legal professionals are typically too busy to be constantly posting content. If the results scream influencer, perhaps this isn’t the right person for you. If their advice seems too good to be true, again, you can check on CanLII and online. This isn’t foolproof, but if it’s connected with scams or pseudo-law or cults, it will likely return a whole bunch of results saying so. Or you can take that advice or “fact” and contact any of the public sources or law societies and ask for help verifying it.

You may be surrounded by water, but you don’t have to swallow anything.