With a surge in the number of Canadians fighting their own court battles instead of paying lawyers, the Supreme Court of Canada has created a new roadmap to help unrepresented litigants decipher legal bafflegab and navigate their way through the epicentre of justice.

The first piece of advice: Get a lawyer. But failing that, legal loners can try to get their foot in the door if they pay $75 and follow a strict set of rules that include putting a grey cover on their applications and using the 12-point font the court demands.

The blueprint, along with a boiled-down guide to understanding the court, have been recently posted on the court's website under the heading "Representing Yourself."

Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin has, on several occasions, publicly decried the "epidemic" of Canadians appearing in courts on their own, mainly because they cannot afford legal fees.

"In some courts, on some days, I am told, unrepresented litigants are up to 40 of the cases," Chief Justice McLachlin said last year in a speech to the Canadian Bar Association as she implored lawyers to review their fees. The number of lawyerless litigants is adding further delays to a system that is already stretched to the limit, she said. It also puts judges in a position of trying to help out, which could threaten their role as independent arbiters.

The Supreme Court's how-to-guide is its first foray into helping litigants help themselves, as part of a nationwide effort that includes setting up hubs in courthouses to provide information to people who are fighting their own battles.

Last year, almost one-quarter of about 600 applicants seeking their day in the Supreme Court did not have lawyers, an increase over previous years.

Montreal doctor Jacques Chaoulli, who spent eight years representing himself in a high-profile case that went as far as the Supreme Court, said the court's new guide for go-it-aloners would not have made a difference for him because the information was already available from a variety of sources.

Dr. Chaoulli started out with a lawyer in 1997, but quickly opted to go to court on his own "because she wanted a lot of money that I didn't have."

Dr. Chaoulli, who successfully convinced the Supreme Court in 2005 to strike down Quebec's ban on private medical insurance for basic services offered in the public health system, said the justice system must do a lot more to cope with the swelling problem of litigants without lawyers.

For a start, he said, Canadian lawyers should follow their counterparts in the U.S. and provide consulting services for people who want to represent themselves.

"The judges should speak out to the lawyers," he said.

© The Ottawa Citizen 2007