Be Your Own Lawyer is a group of retired lawyers who offer help to people representing themselves in court.

Be Your Own Lawyer can help you do everything that  needs to be done to represent yourself (appear Pro Se).

We can help you prepare legal papers, respond to legal papers you receive, organize your case, show you how to handle different aspects of the case, and help you prepare to actually appear in court.

No. Nothing worth having is free!

As much as we like to help people, we have bills to pay too, and we bring a lot of legal training an experience to the table to help you. Having said that, our hourly rate is only $95 per hour.... less than a third of the prevailing billing rates for lawyers.

No. For a number of reasons, while Be Your Own Lawyer will help you as much as we can, we cannot and will not ever be "your lawyer". First, there is the issue of licensing. Each state has its own licensing requirements for lawyers. Be Your Own Lawyer works in every state. It is not practical for us to obtain a license to practice law in fifty states. Because we operate all over the country from our website, the difficulties and costs of going with you to court all over the country would be out of sight! Our role is mimited to giving you the best help we can to represent yourself.

Most people have seen or heard of the movie Catch-22.

In it the main character wanted to get out of flying bombing missions because he was crazy. But if you know you're crazy, you can't be crazy!!

When you represent yourself in legal matters you confront a similar paradox. You can represent yourself, but no one will tell you how.

Lawyers want to get paid to handle your case, so they have no interest in showing you how to do it yourself. Judges, clerks of court and courthouse employees can't give legal advice.

They best they will tell you is to go consult a lawyer.

Go full circle and consult a lawyer and they "can't" give you advice unless you're a client.

And the circle is endless!

Enter Be Your Own Lawyer. Always ready to help you represent yourself!

Because having the right to represent yourself and being able to represent yourself are two different things.

When you represent yourself you must be aware of all the applicable rules and procedures and must have knowledge of the law that pertains to your case. You must be able to prepare legal papers that meet requirements.

Be Your Own Lawyer can help you put all this together and make sense of it all.

Absolutely not!

Be Your Own Lawyer will always take the time to review your case at no cost.

You are never charged for anything at Be Your Own Lawyer unless and until you direct us to undertake specifically described work on your behalf.

Obviously that should be your first choice.

The issue is cost.

With the average cost of an attorney to handle a civil case now being around $49,000, a lot of people just cannot afford to hire an attorney.

It is for that growing group of people that Be Your Own Lawyer is here and ready to help!

Nothing could be easier. Send us an email at info@beyourownlawyer.org, or, go to our contact page and tell us about your case. The more you tell us, the better we will be able to help you. One of our lawyers will be in touch by email. They will probably ask you some additional questions in order to better understand your case. Once they have enough information, you will receive your free case assessment. That will include our thoughts on how best for you to proceed, what options you might have, and suggestions on how to proceed with your case. After that you are free to decide whether or not you would like Be Your Own Lawyer to undertake any work for you, but there is certainly no obligation.

The internet can be a risky place.

Lots of sites ask you to "trust" them and send money or give them your credit card information.

At Be Your Own Lawyer we get that. That's why we offer a completely free, no strings, no gimmicks, no BS case assessment.

Tell us as much about your case as you like - the more the better - and we will look at it for you. We'll tell you what your options are and offer suggestions.

We never charge anything for this.

No advance payment No credit card information. Nothing! Nada!

Nor does the assessment come with any obligation of any kind. Once we have provided a case assessment you are free to use our services or not.

Entirely up to you.

We just don't know how we can be any fairer than that!