Your opposing party: pro se litigant

Well I had a paternity case over 32 W. Randolph recently and lo and behold the opposing attorney withdrew. How to proceed? This comes up a bit in some of these domestic relations cases and in eviction matters.

1. My client's interests come first. If you can take advantage of the opposing party's lack of experience (frankly whether a pro se or attorney situation) for the advantage of your client, do it! I didn't say be fraudulent or unethical. I said get the best result for your client using this potential advantage. Use discovery and pleading formalities to your advantage.

2. Be the "objective voice" and lower the temperature. This is important in most of my cases where we're dealing with people bickering about totally not relevant issues in domestic relations cases. Cut to chase and see what the pro se litigant wants...it might be tenable and you can get the case settled.

3. How to handle judge "softness" with pro se litigants. This is a tough one and I don't think there's one answer. The issue is pro se litigants being able to get away with stuff and just ramble on in court. I don't think too many judges do a great job of "controlling" the pro se litigants. And then your client thinks, oh, she/he is getting to spout off and such and why aren't I? You as lawyer may need to aggressively stop these outbursts in court.