Supreme Court

Self-Represented Persons

Cases heard in the Supreme Court can involve complex legal issues that are decided by the Court.

Although it is possible to represent your case without a lawyer it is highly likely that you will achieve a better outcome in your case if you engage a lawyer to represent you.

If you do not have a lawyer, some help is available from this website:

• Court etiquette information can be found here;
• Commonly used legal references are available here;
• Information for Self-Represented Persons in the Court of Appeal brochure;
• Information on court fees, including how to apply to reduce or waive fees; and
• Here are links to potential sources of legal assistance and advice:
• Legal Aid WA;
• Law Society of WA;
• Aboriginal Legal Service.
• Information about applications for Probate is available here

Please bear in mind that court staff may be able to assist with access to court forms and provide procedural advice but they cannot give legal advice. Court staff may not know the answers to all your questions. In addition, court staff must remain impartial and cannot take sides or help one party present their case against the other party.

If you are involved in a civil dispute be aware that the Supreme Court approach to case management includes extensive use of mediation and pre-trial conferencing designed to achieve negotiated agreements to resolve cases. Only 2-3% of civil cases are determined after a trial. The Court has produced a simple brochure for litigants regarding the Court's mediation programme.  It sets out the benefits of mediation and explains how the process works. The Court usually provides copies of the brochure to litigants when it makes a mediation order. The Court's mediation practice directions can be found at 4.2.1 in the Consolidated Practice Directions and provides more detailed information about the programme.