As someone who has dedicated 18 of his 26 years of paralegal experience assisting Pro Se Litigants with their litigation needs, I am a staunch supporter of the RIGHT TO SELF-REPRESENTATION. The Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution has been interpreted to provide EVERY AMERICAN with a CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT to self-representation, if they so choose. That right should be enjoyed without fear of harassment, injustice or judicial prejudice. Furthermore, no law, regulation, or policy should exist to abridge or surreptitiously extinguish that right.

In support of the foregoing ideals, I founded a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization called PEOPLE UNITED FOR LEGAL SYSTEM EQUALITY (PULSE). The mission of PULSE is to preserve the right to self-representation, prevent prejudice and abuse against Pro Se Litigants by the Legal System, and advocate for fair and meaningful reforms that will facilitate a more favorable experience for the self-represented. PULSE intends to accomplish its agenda through grassroots mobilization, community awareness and education, public policy intervention, and providing legal assistance to select, “high impact” cases beneficial to protecting and expanding the rights of all Pro Se Litigants.
For PULSE to be effective, an active network of like-minded and vocal supporters from every state in the union must be formed. To that end, I submit for your review our PLEDGE OF SOLIDARITY. It can be accessed online at http://www.gopetition.com/online/11773.html or emailed as an attachment (contact me at pulse-for-justice@earthlink.net). I hope you will sign it, and respectfully request that you kindly distribute it to everyone you know who believes in JUSTICE for the self-litigant.

Contrary to the view of many judges and lawyers, those who opt to litigate their own legal matters without the aid of an attorney are not SECOND-CLASS CITIZENS, deserving of contempt and prejudice. Instead, they are BRAVE AMERICANS with an inalienable right to have their legal cause adjudicated objectively and justly. For many, being a Pro Se Litigant can be a very difficult, time-consuming, and sometimes frightening endeavor; complicated by the pressures of earning a living, tending to a family, and coping with the other day-to-day responsibilities we all have. Those who attempt it should be revered, not scorned.

Pro Se Litigants have no less of a RIGHT TO DUE PROCESS under the U.S. Constitution as those individuals who utilize an attorney. In fact, nowhere in the Fifth or Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution does it specify that the hiring of a lawyer is a prerequisite to exercising ones due process rights. Democracy dictates that we have the right to freely choose between self-representation and hiring an attorney to handle our legal matters without suffering humiliation, prejudice or penalization. After all, once the Legal System completes its adjudication of the subject claim, and the dust settles, the claimant and the respondent are the ones who must live with the results (good or bad), and not the judge, the lawyer or anyone else associated with the System.

LET’S ORGANIZE AND MOBILIZE TO TAKE BACK OUR COURTS from those certain lawyers, judges and court administrators who, in the interest of protecting the profitable LAWYER MONOPOLY, perpetuate a hostile and often abusive litigation experience calculated to discourage self-representation and make us “consumer slaves” dependent on lawyers to secure justice. STAND UP AND BE COUNTED by signing the Pledge of Solidarity! The more signatures collected, the more credibility the courts, legislatures, and the media will attribute to PULSE, its efforts to expose the injustices suffered by Pro Se Litigants, and its demands for meaningful remedies and reforms.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!!

JOSEPH L. DELGADO
Founder and Executive Director
PEOPLE UNITED FOR LEGAL SYSTEM EQUALITY (PULSE)