Guidelines for National Pro Se Day Statements
- Purpose. The main objective of National Pro Se Day is to provide a unified platform from which the people, past or present self-represented litigants in particular, can speak to the courts and elected officials about their experiences in litigating cases without legal representation: what the courts get right, what they get wrong, and your suggestions for improvements. We also seek to raise awareness of and funds for the Foundation’s charitable activities.
- Your Statement.
- You will be creating your own statement. To keep the statement a unique expression in your own words and voice, we will not compose, edit, or direct it.
- Create your statement with the courts in mind: judges, clerks, assistants, court reporters, attorneys. What do you want them to know about your experience of representing yourself in court? What are they getting right and what are they getting wrong? Do you have specific ideas they can implement to make the courts friendlier to the self-represented?
- The format you use to record your statement is up to you. You can use video, audio, writing, or any combination. If you’d like, you may have your statement recorded by Sherri Renner in a web conference with her. If you choose to do this, you must schedule the conference with Sherri to take place no later than September 11, 2020.
- There is no limit on how long your statement can be, but please note that brevity and precision in the words you choose will make your message more powerful.
- Before recording, you may want to plan your statement by writing either an outline or full script of what you want to say. Please include the state in which your case is or was pending, and the type of case (family, contract, landlord-tenant, etc.). You may include documents or images in your statement.
- Limitations.
- Keep the tone professional and stick to the facts. We will not allow name-calling, personal or character attacks, or bigoted, vulgar, or obscene language. If we detect any of these things in your statement, we will exclude your statement from publication.
- You agree that, in your statement, you will not break any laws (such as copyright protections), defy any court orders, breach any confidentiality agreements, or invade anyone’s privacy. You agree to hold Pursuing Justice Foundation, Inc. and LawYou, Inc., harmless from any person’s legal claim that your statement harmed them wrongfully.
- Deadline for submission: September 16, 2020, 7:00 pm Eastern time. You may submit your statement via email to Sherri Renner at srenner@pursuingjusticefoundation.org. If your statement is too large to send via email, we will arrange for cloud-based file sharing.
- Publishing Goal. Our goal is to publish all statements we receive. We realize that may not be possible. We therefore reserve complete right, control, and discretion over which statements we publish. If we choose not to publish your statement, we may explain our reasoning to you, but we are not required to do so. Time constraints may prevent us from doing so.
- License. Once you submit your statement, you grant Pursuing Justice Foundation, Inc. a nonexclusive, revocable license to publish the statement on PursuingJusticeFoundation.org, LawYouAmerica.com, and any social media used to share statements to promote National Pro Se Day (such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, or YouTube).
- No Claim to Donations. Although Pursuing Justice Foundation will not charge any fee for anyone to access your statement, the Foundation will request donations from website and Telesummit visitors. All donations will be used to fund Pursuing Justice Foundation’s charitable activities. No one submitting a statement will have a claim or entitlement to any donations the Foundation receives relative to a statement in particular or to National Pro Se Day as a whole.
- Effective Date. These guidelines are current as of July 6, 2020, but may be revised if needed.
- Have fun!