Ah, I see. I assume you have some personal legal entanglement?
You need to figure out who has jurisdiction. Municipal, state, province, county, federal? Is it criminal, civil, tort, bylaw, or is there a special body that handles your subject? Whoever is in charge, go to their websites. They often have a bunch of information posted even about case laws and details like that.
Try to find if there is a member of Free Access to Law Movement that would be involved in your area. Here is their member list)- it isn't very well organized; you might have to scroll and click stuff that is vaguely in your area. where I am there is a massive, free case law database which is on this list. it even explains to you which cases supersede previous ones, etc.
There were/are subreddits something like /r/asklaw or /r/asklawyer. There are/were also separate subs for different countries. If you have no prior experience, I recommend just perusing random posts that apply to your jurisdiction because it gives you a sense of how legal situations actually play out. Then, search subreddit for words related to your situation.
All that said, here is some advise from someone who has dabbled in DIY law:
- it really sucks. if the opposing party has a lawyer, and you don't, the judge or whoever is presiding will always agree with the lawyer even if you are right
- forget about your legal theory for a while and try to first figure out how things work. stuff has to be done in a certain order, on certain timelines. there might be forms or notices or affidavits. maybe you need to learn about disclosure and other stuff like this.
- then on the big day when you are doing your case, how is that organized? they do things in a certain way that is really inscrutable. there are little ceremonies and turns of phrase you are expected to know.
- Here is a page I just found searching that describes this: At the Hearing: Is there a process to admit evidence other than testimony? | WomensLaw.org I wish I had seen this years ago lol. This looks like a great website actually and I think you should read all the pages if you will be in any court-type situation
if you are not discouraged:
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You should attempt to avail yourself of any lawyer services which are available to you. Even if they are not representing you, a 30-60 minute conversation to run by them will be enlightening
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Find your loical Bar Association. They usually have links to reputable free or low cost legal info and services which might be available to you. Even if you are not low income. You can usually get a 30 minute convo with a lawyer for free. highly recommended if you are bent on DIY
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Find organizations which are not law firms or otherwise commercial enterprises that are involved in your jurisdiction
- Although it's tempting to just do web searches for your problem, you will come up with a lot of legal firms which make things look more hopeful than they may really be because they are trying to make a sale. they can be pretty misleading.
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Just as a forinstance, I did a web search for "new york state free legal" and got the following very useful links:
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The reason I think the above are reputable is that they have .org
and .gov
domain names and are run by government, non profits and professional organisations
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The above websites have information about all kinds of legal situations. But don't spend too much time there if NY is not your jurisdiction because you might read something that doesn't apply to you but it sticks in your brain and you get confused. Search up the correct websites for your situation.
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A lawyer explained to me once (in a 60 minute consult) that the important thing about case law is understanding how the case law is the same and different from your situation
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You can always go to the public library and ask a librarian. I know some librarians and they are asked all kinds of things including for legal help on a regular basis. they are very smart at knowing how to ask a question and locate the answer. They will know about any databases that can be accessed. And with a library card you might have access to stuff that's not on the open internet.
Hope there is something for you in there.