{"id":20992,"date":"2022-04-29T10:14:20","date_gmt":"2022-04-29T09:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ounews.co\/?p=20992"},"modified":"2022-04-29T10:14:20","modified_gmt":"2022-04-29T09:14:20","slug":"does-it-pay-to-represent-yourself-in-court-bbc-ou-ideas-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/business-law\/does-it-pay-to-represent-yourself-in-court-bbc-ou-ideas-film\/","title":{"rendered":"OU academics contribute to new BBC Ideas film: \u2018Does it ever pay to represent yourself in court?\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Appearing in court without representation is becoming increasingly common. But is it a sensible strategy? Academics from The Open University\u2019s Open Justice Centre<\/a> have answered exactly this question in a new BBC Ideas film titled \u2018Does it ever pay to represent yourself in court?<\/a>\u2019.<\/p>\n

Open Justice Centre Director Francine Ryan, Professor of Law and Social Justice Stephanie Pywell, and Head of the OU Law School Hugh McFaul all contributed to the short film. They were joined by Trustee of Law for Life Michael Olatokun and representatives from the Open Justice Centre\u2019s collaborative partner, Support Through Court, including Lizzie Irons and Pauline Wilson.<\/p>\n

According to experts, representing yourself is a risky strategy, whether you\u2019re involved in a civil or criminal case. The experience of being a litigant in person \u2013 someone who represents themselves in court \u2013 can be both daunting and stressful.<\/p>\n

Francine Ryan said: \u201cUntil we engage in the legal process, we often don\u2019t understand the value of access to justice. Of course, with legal costs rising and access to free representation not always available, it is not surprising that people often have no choice but to represent themselves. But in this video, we explain why it\u2019s not always the best strategy, and highlight organisations that can help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Available to view on the award-wining BBC Ideas website, the short film was created and released to support BBC court drama series \u2018You Don\u2019t Know Me\u2019 which follows the story of Hero who\u2019s accused of murder but swears he\u2019s innocent.<\/p>\n

BBC Ideas content is commissioned by Broadcast and Partnerships at the OU, with support from all faculties. \u2018Does it ever pay to represent yourself in court?\u2019 was commissioned by the Faculty of Business and Law, with particular relevance to Bachelor of Laws (Honours), Solicitor Exam Qualification, Evidence Law<\/a>, and Justice in Action<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Watch the video at: https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/ideas\/videos\/does-it-ever-pay-to-represent-yourself-in-court\/p0b9prys<\/a><\/p>\n

For more information about The Open University, head to www.open.ac.uk<\/a> or for more information on the Open Justice Centre, visit https:\/\/law-school.open.ac.uk\/open-justice<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Appearing in court without representation is becoming increasingly common. But is it a sensible strategy? Academics from The Open University\u2019s Open Justice Centre have answered exactly this question in a new BBC Ideas film titled \u2018Does it ever pay to represent yourself in court?\u2019. Open Justice Centre Director Francine Ryan, Professor of Law and Social […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20994,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,11],"tags":[1525,1640,2216],"class_list":["post-20992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-law","category-law","tag-news-home","tag-ou-home","tag-the-open-university-law-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}