How to win a trial without a lawyer?
This article was prepared as part of a series of articles on a project to “eliminate legal illiteracy” by a civil lawyer
Conducting a civil case in court is quite a difficult task; it is for this reason that obtaining the status of a lawyer requires not only a higher legal education and legal experience, but also passing a mandatory multidisciplinary qualifying exam.
However, despite the prevailing stereotype, a citizen can conduct a civil case in court independently. In order to do this as efficiently and correctly as possible, you should remember a few useful tips.
If you follow some simple tips, you can win the case on your own:
1) Look for judicial practice. When drawing up a statement of claim, spend time searching for judicial practice on your problem. It is quite possible that by finding a judicial act on a very similar dispute, you will greatly facilitate your work in drawing up a claim. From the ready-made solution it will be possible to take links to some articles, and also not to “rack your brains” over the wording of the “pleading part”. When searching for judicial practice, try to use not forums and dubious Internet sites, but the official websites of the courts of the Chelyabinsk region. Each district court has its own website, which has a “judicial records” section, in which the vast majority of all judicial acts issued are published. The search can be set by category of cases - this will simplify the task. It is advisable to check the case number on the website of the Chelyabinsk Regional Court to see if the decision has been overturned.
If you managed to find several decisions similar to your case (preferably made in the last one or two years), and based on them to draw up a statement of claim, then you have passed the very important first stage perfectly!
2) Don't forget to work on refuting the other side's position. It is completely logical that the Plaintiff and the Defendant have directly opposite views on the subject of the dispute (if you are the plaintiff and the defendant admits the claim, you are very lucky and this article is not for you). While focusing on proving your position, do not forget that you need to monitor the actions of your procedural opponent. Even if his statements and the testimony of his witnesses seem absurd, implausible or simply falsified, think about how to refute this. It may be necessary to bring in one or more witnesses who could refute the opponent's testimony, or to ask the court to request certain information.
For example, if you are a defendant in a claim for damages caused by an accident, the court determines which party is at fault for the accident. On behalf of the plaintiff, two witnesses were questioned, who stated that it was you who ran the red traffic light. During the interrogation, the witnesses were confused and lost, they could not say the color of the car, they could not say the number of lanes on the roadway, this and other inconsistencies made it clear to everyone present in the courtroom that the witnesses were lying. However, you should not expect that the judge “heard everything himself” and will make a decision in your favor. As a rebuttal, you can ask the court to request information about the “billing” of mobile phones of witnesses on the day and time of the accident. From the response to the mobile operator’s request, it may well become clear that at the same time the witnesses were in another part of the city and could not be present at the scene of the accident. This will allow you to refute your opponent's evidence.
3) Regularly review the case materials in court. There is a common misconception that there is no need to get acquainted with the materials of a civil case. However, it is not. To familiarize yourself with the case materials, you must write an application for familiarization, which is written in free form and submitted through the court office. Next, the date and time of familiarization are agreed upon with the judge’s office. It is quite possible that the review will be carried out without a previously written application, but this is at the discretion of the assistant or secretary of the judge. When reviewing it, you should pay attention to whether all the materials you provided are filed into the file. Believe me, it is a fairly common situation when one or another document is lost... Now imagine that the lost document is the key evidence in the case (for example, when collecting a debt under a loan agreement, the loan agreement was lost). The sooner the loss can be identified, the higher the likelihood that the loss will be found. At the very least, you can promptly draw the judge’s attention to this fact. And you will take measures to re-attach this document (if available) or file a corresponding complaint. It is also useful to carefully review the entire case when reviewing it; it is possible that some evidence that your opponent has included will appear in the materials.
If the documents were submitted to the office, it is quite possible that no one discussed this at the court hearing. Of course this is wrong. If any document is received, regardless of whether it is attached at a court hearing or received through the office, it must be announced, the parties’ opinions on its inclusion must be heard, and all persons participating in the case must be given a copy of it. This is in theory. In practice, everything can be exactly the opposite. Therefore, having seen new evidence in time, you will be able to respond to it correctly by presenting counter-evidence or at least giving explanations on it (for example, explaining to the court why it should be viewed critically). It is quite useful to carefully read the minutes of the court hearing when familiarizing yourself with the case. Do not be surprised if much of what was said in the court hearing was not reflected in it, and some were simply made up. The parties have a five-day period to submit comments on the minutes of the court hearing from the moment of its production.
Another important piece of advice is to take pictures of everything that you haven’t photographed during each inspection. Firstly, this can help in preparing for the next court hearing, and secondly, it can prevent the disappearance of some sheets, rewriting the minutes of the court hearing and other similar things.
4) Present as much evidence as possible. There is a misconception that everything that is not included in the district court can be brought to the regional court. This is an erroneous judgment. All evidence must be presented to the court of first instance. The appellate instance accepts new evidence only if it is impossible to present it to the court of first instance. The golden rule is that if you are in doubt whether or not to submit a particular document to the court, it is better to attach it to the case as evidence. Many court decisions contain the wording: “the plaintiff’s side did not provide convincing evidence to substantiate the stated claim...” or “the defendant’s side did not adequately refute the plaintiff’s position...”. It is quite possible that a document that you were embarrassed or forgot to include could have become decisive - it would have allowed you to make the opposite decision.
5) Feel free to show that you are not a lawyer. There is nothing wrong with acting in court on your own without the help of a lawyer or attorney! It is the right of every person to participate in court in person or through a representative. It is completely logical that if you conduct business on your own, many things will not be entirely clear. Do not hesitate to ask again, clarify, ask additional questions. If you do not understand which documents the judge asked you to bring to the next court hearing, it is better to ask again immediately or, if possible, immediately after the hearing from the assistant or secretary. Ask to dictate while recording. If the court explains a thesis to you, ask for an explanation in more detail, point out that you are not a lawyer and do not know all the intricacies. If the court asks your opinion on a particular issue, you can always answer that you are not ready to express it right away, but it takes time to sort it out and formulate your positions.
For example, the issue of ordering a forensic examination is being decided, and the judge asks: “What questions do you propose to ask the expert and to which expert institution should the case be sent for examination?” It is quite logical that you may need time to formulate questions and find an expert institution that you can trust. Most lawyers and attorneys find it difficult to answer this question straight away. Of course, you, coming to court for the first or second time, need even more time.
6) Feel free to use written notes. Many times during the consideration of a case, I noticed how a party to a case during a court hearing, out of excitement and anxiety, completely loses his speech and forgets to say the most important thing. It is not necessary to put your entire speech in writing (although this can also be useful), but briefly sketching out the main points is a must! If, upon entering the courtroom, you have forgotten everything, immediately take out the piece of paper - and everything is remembered.
An example of a leaflet with abstracts:
- Claim that the statute of limitations has passed;
- Draw the judge's attention to the absence of a signature on the contract;
- Draw the judge's attention to the fact that the handwriting on the two receipts, supposedly executed on behalf of one person, is made in completely different handwriting;
- Ask the court to make a request to Rosreestr about who currently owns the disputed property.
In the absence of such a reminder, having entered into an argument about the first point, all the rest may fly out of your head.
7) Don't forget to summarize. After hearing all persons and examining all written evidence, the court announces the end of consideration of the case on the merits and the transition to the stage of debate. Most citizens conducting a case on their own ignore this stage, answering the court’s question that they will not speak. However, this is not entirely true, especially if the case was considered for quite a long time and several court hearings were held. Understand that each judge has hundreds of cases before him. Having held a court hearing and postponed its consideration to some date, the judge immediately “forgets” about it, switching to the next case. As soon as the next court hearing in your case begins, the judge, having opened the case, frantically tries to remember what the dispute is all about. Agree, it is logical that at the very end, at the debate stage, it would not be amiss to once again repeat the most important thing in your position, recall the key evidence and once again state the groundlessness of the demands of the opposite side. Speaking at the debate can force the judge to make a completely different decision than he originally planned.
An example from practice: the court hearing was repeatedly postponed due to the lack of a response from the tax office about the amount of the defendant’s official income. With all her appearance, the judge “showed” that she was going to refuse the claim; Having finally received an answer to the request, the judge held a meeting in 5 minutes - she stood up, took the case and asked with hope: “No one will participate in the debate?” However, the plaintiff asked to speak, and during the assessment of the evidence, he noticed that the Defendant at the very first court hearing (which took place more than 6 months ago) gave testimony that was completely refuted by the response received from the tax office; the Defendant lied. The court granted the claim.
I sincerely hope that the information presented above will bring real assistance in independently protecting your rights in court. I tried to avoid describing the general requirements for a statement of claim and other information that is set out in the Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation. Finding the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation on the Internet is not difficult, but what is described in the article is, as a rule, not discussed out loud. However, I will briefly outline the main requirements of the code for conducting a civil case in court for those who have not yet read the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation.
In any case, we recommend contacting professionals, since only this guarantees the protection of your rights and interests. Law Firm & Bar Association “Filatov and Partners” is a professional law firm. Unites lawyers and advocates representing the interests of citizens and organizations of Chelyabinsk.
Make an appointment with a lawyer: (351) 200-36-03
Address: Chelyabinsk, Lenin Ave., 33.
Getting ready for the court hearing
The day before, make sure you have all the documents that may be needed in court ready. You should have with you not only their originals, but also copies.
Be sure to take a pen (preferably two), a notepad and several sheets of blank paper. What if you need to write a petition?
And don't forget your passport. They won't even let you into the courthouse without it.
Put it all in your bag in advance so that you don’t forget anything in a hurry on the day of the meeting.
Separately, it is worth mentioning the requirements for appearance. Tracksuits, T-shirts, shorts, etc. are not allowed. Otherwise, you may be turned away at the entrance.
On the other hand, you shouldn't hang yourself from head to toe with expensive jewelry like diamond rings, gold chains and platinum Swiss watches that cost several hundred thousand dollars.
The correct attire for attending court is a simple, clean business suit. The optimal color is classic: dark blue, gray, black. And don’t forget to iron your suit. Clean shoes are a must.
Regarding perfume: a little bit is possible, but don’t get carried away. You shouldn’t wear too much perfume so that you don’t smell of French perfume throughout the entire courtroom or judge’s office.
A separate recommendation for girls: too frank and provocative appearance is unacceptable. No miniskirts, deep necklines, transparent fabrics or overly bright cosmetics.
