CHICAGO — When Marsha and Larry Lipsky wanted to evict a troublesome tenant from their home in Arlington Heights, Ill., they consulted a few attorneys but couldn't afford fees that ran from $500 to $5,000.
So they did what a lot of people with legal trouble are doing these days: They became their own lawyers.
"I was a nervous wreck," Marsha Lipsky, 67, said after presenting her case to a judge and winning an order for the tenant to leave.
Legal service has never come cheap. But lawyers, judges and other experts say that for many people, the recession has made it a nearly impossible expense. So more litigants are navigating the often-bewildering justice system by themselves.
Advocates and court officials have responded with expanded advice desks, instructional websites, even plans to connect litigants with law students by computer. But the trend still alarms many observers, who say courtrooms weren't made for amateurs.
"In a complex domestic-relations dispute or commercial dispute, it's kind of like trying to do surgery on yourself," said Bob Glaves of the Chicago Bar Foundation, which funds numerous legal assistance programs. "If you're not trained in these things, you have no chance."
Anyone facing jail time for a criminal offense is guaranteed legal help, but that is not true for civil cases, which include foreclosures and lawsuits over unpaid credit card bills.
Many low- and middle-income people have been left to square off against professional attorneys who represent banks, collection agencies and other deep-pocketed organizations.
Cook County Associate Judge Thomas More Donnelly, who until recently ran a courtroom for those fighting wage garnishments and frozen bank accounts, said such contests were often stark mismatches.
He recalled cases in which defendants didn't know about a state law that allows debtors to keep up to $4,000 safe from creditors.
He would tell them about it, but if they didn't understand what he was saying, he would have to drop the matter because he had to remain impartial.
"It would be so distressing to me," he said. "There are things that are known to everyone in the courtroom except the debtor."
The Chicago Legal Clinic, which runs a free advice desk for people facing foreclosure, has seen its clientele explode over the last two years. Wait times to see an attorney have risen to about two hours.
