What happens if you dont have a lawyer for your trial?

Answer 1

In a criminal case, the court will appoint a defense attorney to represent you. The quality of the attorney varies from place to place, depending on how they set that up in their area. Some places have a staff of defense attorneys. Others draw from a pool of attorneys that have volunteered to do defense work. These are usually those that are trying to get started in the legal career or have a moral desire to fight the system. In others all attorneys that practice in the area will rotate through the defense arena.

In a Civil case, you are on your own. You can try to find an attorney that will represent you for a portion of the proceeds.

Answer 2

Depends what you're charged with and what kind of defenses you may have available, right?

Generally, if you don't have a lawyer on the day of your arraignment you should ask the Court to postpone your arraignment date by a month or two. Give you some extra time to get a lawyer.

If that doesn't work and you are forced to get arraigned, plead "not guilty" and ask for a "jury trial" and ask for an extension of time to file any defense motions on your case (because some motions might be due right then, on the day of arraignment).

Even if you think you would rather work out a fair plea bargain than go to trial, don't offer to plead "guilty" right then. Unless you're SURE that's what you want and you're willing to give up any chance you had of beating the charges or having a lawyer negotiate hard for a better deal where you plead to a smaller crime instead of the big one.

Once you get a lawyer, that lawyer can then discuss plea bargains, which will still be an option later even after arraignment. You can change your mind about the "jury trial" later.

Answer 3

If you don't have a lawyer when someone takes you to court, you will have the option to defend yourself. However, if a person is arrested and taken to court, they have the option to be given a court appointed lawyer that will defend them on their behalf.

Answer 4

It depends on where the person is and what the circumstances are.

In the US, a lawyer will be appointed for a defendant in a criminal case if the defendant cannot afford to hire one. This is generally not "free" ... the fee is instead based on the defendant's "ability to pay" ... but it will almost certainly be considerably cheaper than hiring an attorney.

In civil cases, there is no automatic provision for free or reduced-cost legal representation; a person involved in a civil case should go to the court and ask at the information desk for information on legal aid, which will generally consist of a phone number you can call that will provide you a list of attorneys and law firms that do a lot of pro bono (Latin "for [the public] good") work, or that have a sliding fee schedule based on ability to pay.

You can also appear pro se (Latin "for self") or in pro per (an abbreviation for a Latin phrase meaning "as one's own self"); the two phrases are essentially synonymous and both mean that you are acting as your own attorney. There are obvious disadvantages to this approach (you are extremely unlikely to know as much about the law as an attorney, particularly a public defender who probably has been handling multiple court cases daily in front of the same few judges for years), but on the plus side it's going to be cheaper (not free; you will still have to pay court fees and filing fees).

Answer 5

The court will appoint you one from legal aid

Answer 6

Then you will proceed pro se.

If it is a criminal trial, and you cannot afford an attorney but would like one, you may ask the court to appoint one for you.