Litigant in person – evidence in Court./keep your costs down

Consider what witnesses you want to bring who have personal knowledge of the facts and events. Get witness statements from them. If they are elderly get letters signed early in case they die or are not well enough to attend Court.
You may need to get expert evidence such as a letter from a doctor architect surveyor or quantity surveyor.
Even if you are litigant in person you might want to bring in a fixed fee specialist lawyer to help. You will not get the cost back but it could be money well spent.
Litigant in Person – keep your costs down

Look for a lawyer who charges fixed fees for each stage, or even the whole case. It may well be more than you wanted to pay, or are happy to pay, but a fixed fee is certain. All sorts of reasons can make a case last longer than predicted – illness of the Judge, other urgent cases involving a child coming up first OR the Court losing the file (which happens a lot).

A fixed fee means what it says, and should give you some safeguard and reassurance.

If you are using a lawyer, his time is your money so use him wisely. Before you email or phone for advice, work out exactly what you want from the phone call, email or meeting. Do a checklist/agenda.

Do not inundate the lawyer with emails which have to be printed off their end. Scan everything into one PDF document.

Put yourself in their shoes of trying to cope in a busy office and make life easy for them. It will pay handsomely, and you will not only get better value for money, but better quality and more concise advice.

Tell your lawyer what you can afford and that the costs have to be capped and he will explain to you exactly what he can achieve for you within that budget. Often this can be a great deal if you are prepared to shoulder some of the tasks yourself.

“We would be interested in your comments, please leave them by clicking on the title to this blog above.”