Doing The Right Thing: Playing Fair With The Involuntary Pro Se Litigant

Abraham Lincoln once famously said that "He who represents himself has a fool for a client." While this statement has been demonstrated to be true more often than not, what happens when (1) the pro se representation is not by choice, and (2) an adversary's attorney takes advantage of the (involuntary) pro se litigant for tactical gain? A recent California appellate opinion addresses not the fool, but rather, the foolish misconduct on the part of opposing counsel when dealing with a pro se litigant.

California's Fourth Appellate District recently answered these questions in a blistering opinion that should give every attorney who has ever been tempted to take advantage of a pro se litigant some pause, and remind them of the words of Mark Twain (and Ted Lasso) that "it is never wrong to do the right thing." In this case, opposing counsel neither did the right thing nor did they comply with the very law that, by its intent, aims to protect pro se litigants whose