Pro se legal representation in the United States
latin for "for oneself"
Pro se legal representation ( or ) means to argue on one's own behalf in a legal proceeding, as a defendant or plaintiff in civil cases, or a defendant in criminal cases, rather than have representation from counsel or an attorney.
The term pro se comes from Latin pro se, meaning "for oneself" or "on behalf of themselves". This status is sometimes known as in propria persona (abbreviated to "pro per"). In England and Wales the comparable status is that of "litigant in person". In Australia and Canada, the term is self-represented litigant (SRL).
Prevalence
According to the National Center for State Courts in the United States, as of 2006 pro se litigants had become more common in both state courts and federal courts. This increase is due to a number of factors, including a fall in funding for federal legal aid, an increase in provision of limited legal assistance, and increase in divorce rates. Estimates of the pro se rate in family law cases overall averaged 67% in California, 73% in Florida's large counties, and 70% in some Wisconsin counties. In San Diego, for example, the number of divorce filings involving at least one pro se litigant rose from 46% in 1992 to 77% in 2000, in Florida from 66% in 1999 to 73% in 2001. California reports in 2001 that over 50% of family matters filings in custody and visitation are by pro se litigants.
“Pro se legal representation in the United States” enters the record as latin for "for oneself". Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what legal, representation and United can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “Pro se legal representation in the United States” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.