Introduction
This one-hour webinar will look at the challenges facing solicitors when dealing with a lay litigant. Solicitors may find some guidance in Appendix 3 to the Solicitor’s Guide to Professional Conduct.
On the 17th of January 2025 the Courts in Northern Ireland, in conjunction with Ulster University and the Law Society of Northern Ireland, launched a Charter for the people involved in Civil or Family Proceedings in Northern Ireland where one party does not have legal representation. This a useful precedent for all solicitors dealing with a litigant in person and this webinar will analyse that document with a view to learning from the experience of our colleagues in Northern Ireland.
Learning Outcomes
Attendees will learn about:
- Review of the professional standard of conduct
- Review of Solicitor’s Guide to Professional Conduct (4th Edition) in relation to lay litigants
- How to deal with a lay litigant / litigant in person
- Handling difficult conversations, communications, protests and grievances
- Review of the Charter for Effective Participation and Communication between Solicitors and Litigants in Person in Northern Ireland issued on 17th January 2025
- Plain language and the law – Decision of Mr. Justice Twomey in Propiteer Ireland Limited v Castlehaven Property Finance DAC & Ors [2025] IEHC 451
Speaker
Thomas Coughlan
Tom is a Director of the IICPD, Chairperson of IILA and Council Member of the Law Society of Ireland, where he sits on the Regulation of Practice Committee. Tom is a solicitor with 25 years of practice experience as both an employed solicitor and as a principal of his own Firm. He practices in the areas of immigration & human rights law, civil litigation, criminal defence and family law.
