litigant in person

A litigant in person is a party to legal proceedings or a civil lawsuit who not legally represented in court. In well developed court systems such as those in the UK, the litigants are usually represented by solicitors and/or barristers due to the complexity of the rules of court and to assist the proper and efficient conduct and progress of the litigation, and not inadvertently damage the conduct of the case before the court.

Litigants in person are entitled to recover costs and disbursements (court filing fees, expert's fees, courier fees, as assessed by the court) where a costs order is made in their favour. The scale of recovery of legal costs (that is, excluding disbursements) is not the same as for parties who are legally represented.

Only the parties to litigation have a right to be heard by the Court. Accordingly, litigants in person have a right to appear and make submissions at hearings of application notices, case management conferences, pre-trial hearings and the trial. When a litigant appoints a legal representative (such as a solicitor) the legal representative appears before the court on behalf of the litigant; and there is no requirement for the litigant to appear personally, other than where they have been ordered to do so. In designated types of cases, a specialist legal representative may have a right to appear before the particular court, such as registered patent attorneys in patent cases and trade mark attorneys in trade mark cases before the Patents County Court.

Only barristers and solicitor-advocates have a right to appear before the Senior Courts (such as the High Court of Justice, Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court), other than the litigant in person.