The real benefit to me personally lately has been the incredible information available at my fingertips. Now, before proceeding, one kind of has to define "information". As I've suggested in previous posts, I think that it's very important to take anything that I read online with a grain of salt, to look for verification and backup and to understand that anyone can put an opinion out there and dress it up as a fact and themselves as a subject matter expert.
All of that having been said, 2010 and 2011 has been a revelation for me in terms of mining the web for information. Without going through too many sordid (and personal, I might add!) details, those who know me, know that I am going through the Ontario court system for some family law matters.
At present, I have been able to navigate through the process and system without legal representation. Before proceeding, I want to be clear that I'm not advocating this. After all, proverbs say:
"He who is his own lawyer, has a fool for a client."Probably in my case, truer words were never spoken, but at this stage, I'm preferring to fight for the rights of my children and it seems counter-intuitive to me to be trying to protect their future while at the same spending oodles upon poodles on legal fees.
The experience that I will share is that being self-represented is definitely not for the faint of heart. It's a nasty and intimidating process and system and every step is an adventure.
What has made this a little easier for me has been some guidance from a lawyer who has been fantastic about answering quick questions from me on how to file, what to file, how to word it. Also, my girlfriend has been an amazing help to me too. Although she doesn't have a background in law, she is very intelligent and has been my advisor through it all, and I'm thankful to her more than you can imagine.
The Internet too has been an amazing resource. I was thinking of this fact this morning. Without having this information at my disposal, I don't know that I could have managed to get this far along on my own. I've found amazing resources, including the online database court rulings so that I can review cases to see what the judges ruled, and why they made their ruling.
All of this material has been a god-send to me. It is a great feeling to be able sit down in front of the computer on a Saturday morning with some Motown playing and some coffee beside me as I research what ever needs to be researched or write a brief that needs to be written.
It's been a totally awesome tool for me, and as I mentioned, I don't think I could have gotten this far without it.
Stay tuned and buckle up - much more to come on this saga, I'm sure.
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