Information if you represent yourself

If you do not have a lawyer, you will have to prepare your case and do the legal research to represent yourself. You will need to learn about the court system, the specific law in your case, what you and the "other side" must both prove, what defences you have, and all the possible arguments for your case.

As a first step, you may wish to seek legal advice. This link will provide you with information and links to various services which may be able to provide you with legal advice for free or for a reduced fee.

To educate yourself about the law, the cases and the possible arguments in your case, you will have to do some legal research and this can be a long, complicated process. You will have to collect information from various places. If you have questions about specific areas of the law (for example, family law or traffic violations), this link will provide you access to general legal information available through the internet or by telephone. If you are preparing your case and performing legal research, this link will provide you access to some helpful websites.

If your case is in the Supreme Court, visit the Supreme Court Self Help Centre website. The Supreme Court Self Help Centre can give you information you need to prepare your Supreme Court family or civil case. The website also has several guidebooks on Supreme Court procedure.

The Court of Appeal has guidebooks for conducting Civil Appeals on their website.