The Law Society of Northern Ireland has been working with Ulster University (UU) and the Litigant in Person Reference Group to create a document for distribution to lawyers and LIPs to assist them navigate their way through the court process and build working relationships between each other to better their communication and conduct throughout the cases in which they are engaged.
Simon Chambers, Law Society Council member, Family Law and Contentious Business Committee member is the Society’s representative on this project.
Background
UU carried out work with litigants in person (LIPs) in December 2023 and Simon contributed to a panel at the UU conference on Legal Participation for Litigants in Person, which was opened by Dame Siobhan Keegan, Lady Chief Justice.
Many litigants in person spoke at the event and referred to the trauma they endured both through the circumstances that had brought them into the legal system and the court process itself, together with the lack of empathy they faced when managing their cases. Similarly, the level of distrust and fear held by solicitors in dealing with LIPs was apparent. More information on this research into this topic can be found on the Ulster University website.
Project
As a result the Society committed to working with UU to create a Memorandum of Understanding to be entered into at the inception of a case between the legal representative and the litigant in person in an effort to bring the parties together to communicate more freely and dispel some of the fears on both sides, in the hope that this would in turn lead to expectations being better managed and each party having an insight into how the other operates, with a view to alleviating the common pain points encountered on each side and leading to greater efficiency in LIP cases progressing through the Court system.
Over the last year, utilising UU’s Human-centred Design as a research method, a series of workshops gathered LIPs, solicitors, McKenzie Friends and other relevant stakeholders to work through the various pain points encountered by both sides, out of which evolved the Charter for Effective Participation and Communication between Solicitors and Litigants in Person in Northern Ireland.
Reviewing the Charter
The Charter is being circulated to all Society members for comments and views. The project is at the Evolve stage of the human-centred design process whereby feedback and comments are sought to develop the Charter further.
Please consider the attached Charter and if you have any views or comments, please email them to ann.mcmahon@lawsoc-ni.org by 4pm Friday 21 February 2025.
When the Charter is finalised, the Law Society will host a launch event in the Spring. Thereafter distribution to other key stakeholders will take place.