Irish courts overwhelmed by «ridiculous claims» of pseudo-lawyers

Persons who represent themselves in court (lay litigants) are better off without any legal representation than getting advice from self-appointed litigation consultants.

This is how Judge of the High Court of Ireland Michael Twomey assessed the quality of work of pseudo-lawyers who cause delays in the country's courts on a daily basis, Irish Legal News reports.

The reason for the delay in the consideration of cases is that the courts are busy considering «ridiculous applications» filed on the basis of pseudo-legal advice from non-lawyers.

The judge compared such consultants to unqualified doctors. «It would be unthinkable if operating rooms were busy because of unnecessary surgical interventions performed on the advice of quack doctors, causing delays in surgeries for other patients», - M. Twomey said.

The case before the judge was an appeal against another High Court decision, which was brought back to him instead of being properly transferred to the Court of Appeal. «As a result of this ridiculous application, half a day of the High Court's work, which could have been used to consider other cases, was spent on the consideration of a motion that no qualified lawyer would have filed, - the judge said. - For this reason, this case clearly demonstrates not only the harm to pro se litigants, but also the systemic harm caused by the large number of unqualified litigation consultants ‘practicing’ in our courts».

Although providing unqualified legal advice is an offense in Ireland, the judge noted that there is no record of any actual prosecution for such an offense.