Resolution recently published a guide for its members to working with LiPs, an increasingly common phenomenon. You can read the guide here.

David Burrows beat me to posting a review of it, and he was rather underwhelmed with the “homely guide”.

It is addressed to the lawyers who are expected now to liaise with LiPs, but its utility will not be just for lawyers but also for LiPs, McKenzie friends and indeed judges and represented parties – in both managing expectations of contact with a lawyer who is the bearer of duties to both client and court, but also in calling to account those who do not meet reasonable standards of courtesy and helpfulness – although the “you” is plainly the lawyer, the language and tone suggests the writers were alive to the fact that this document would be read by lay parties as well as Resolution members. It might in some circumstances be seen as something of a stick with which to beat shirty lawyers, although how effective a stick it might be is less clear. It will most often be a useful reference point when dealing with a LiP who has unrealistic expectations of a lawyer – I imagine that Resolution members will send a LiP to this document to help explain why they can’t (for example) correspond with a McKenzie friend or respond to every email in.

What is interesting about this document is that, whilst its contents will be no brainers to many practitioners, its tone represents a significant shift from documents produced not so very long ago (I am thinking of the Law Society Practice Direction from 2012) from defensive (how to reduce risk and complaint by minimising contact with LiPs) – to reflective and pragmatic (how to progress cases and achieve resolution by trying to find ways of working cooperatively with LiPs) – and from seeing contact with a LiP as in conflict with the lawyer’s duty to ones own client to seeing it as an expression of both the lawyer’s duty to the court and to the client. By way of example take this mealy mouthed snippet from the Law Society document : “Accordingly, whilst it may be legitimate for you to refuse to do so there could be circumstances in which the interests of your client and the court will be furthered by providing some level of assistance, for example in avoiding unnecessary costs being expended in dealing with a misguided initiative“, which seems a rather outdated expression an old skool “bare minimum” philosophy, only two years down the road. It’s modern and more relaxed descendant is perhaps seen in phrases like this in the Resolution document “take care not to give unsolicited legal advice to the litigant in person but think about what information might be helpful for them, including providing links to websites or organisations that may be able to offer them help or explanations about the law or procedures.”

This document is big on encouraging practitioners to think at all times about how their words and actions may be perceived and (mis)understood and as to the need for them to engage with a justice system where LiPs are as much the norm as lawyers. About time too. Many – I hesitate to say most – many practitioners, both bar and solicitor, make real efforts to deal proactively and constructively with LiPs but even those of us who are alert and who make efforts do not get it right all of the time, and there remain still too many who just turn their face away and see LiPs as the problem, and as someone else’s problem at that.

There are a few glitches in this document, for example the text at the bottom of page 8 seems to be cut off in its prime, and some of the hypertext links don’t work. But overall I think it is a helpful reminder of good practice and a useful document to signpost and refer to from time to time. David Burrows complains that it is shallow and lacking in detail – there are undoubtedly difficult topics it does not attempt to cover but the topics (rightly) identified by Burrows are by and large questions as yet without answer.

In future it might be useful for Resolution to publish a version of the guide addressed to Litigants in Person.