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Learn to Litigate for Fun and Profit Today’s Special: Habeas Your Own Corpus
BY CLAUDE DUCLOUX
M
any of you are old enough to remember when, during the 1980s, a series of “Do It Yourself” (DIY) auto repair places opened up across the country where the weekend mechanic could take his car, put it up on a hydraulic lift, and ratchet like a professional … devoid of that actual skill, of course. Those businesses failed. There were too many serious injuries, falling cars, and requests for assistance from the local attendant—which later 24
AUSTINLAWYER | MARCH 2020
resulted in claims of faulty advice. Professional skills are crafted through education, training, and experience. Nevertheless, emboldened by a false confidence that we can accomplish anything with the help of YouTube, most people think they can do, fix, or handle anything, especially when it will save them a few bucks. And now, it appears this DIY culture has come to the legal profession. It isn’t surprising. The costs of legal services are not within reach
of more than half the population. And certainly, there are routine legal procedures and documents that can be handled by a non-lawyer with proper preparation. Rarely, however, does that include litigation. Why? It’s all those stupid rules. When someone consults me about doing a complicated case pro se, I have this unerring advice: “It is perfectly legal for you to represent yourself in Court. It’s also perfectly legal for you to take out your own tonsils. You’ll do just as good a job in both of
those endeavors.” But most people can’t help but think, “I can do this case myself. I just need a few minutes of a lawyer’s time. I’ll be fine.” So, capitalizing on this flawed logic, enterprising companies have advertised that they’ll get you a lawyer to handle some nuts and bolts of your upcoming case, and you only pay for what the lawyer’s services include. This makes me nervous. It’s like asking to be taught how to take off in an airplane, but not how to land. No
