{"id":136594,"date":"2025-11-10T09:19:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T17:19:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/11\/10\/are-lawyers-more-likely-to-litigate-claims-as-pro-se-plaintiffs\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T09:19:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T17:19:16","slug":"are-lawyers-more-likely-to-litigate-claims-as-pro-se-plaintiffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/11\/10\/are-lawyers-more-likely-to-litigate-claims-as-pro-se-plaintiffs\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Lawyers More Likely To Litigate Claims As Pro Se Plaintiffs?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Litigation can be an extremely complex process for individuals unaccustomed to the practices and procedures of pursuing claims in court.\u00a0 As a result, lawyers who have claims of their own might have advantages if they seek to litigate those claims in court, since they can presumably save money on legal fees and benefit from knowledge of the legal system.\u00a0However, some lawyers might be dissuaded from pursuing claims in court since they understand the delays and minutiae of litigation.<\/p>\n

Several years ago, I represented a client who was being sued in a small, somewhat petty matter.\u00a0I observed that the plaintiff was operating pro se, but that the summons and complaint were well drafted. I eventually discovered that the plaintiff was an attorney, which accounted for why this pro se plaintiff had solid papers.\u00a0Upon conducting a search of this lawyer\u2019s name in court records, I discovered that the lawyer had been a pro se plaintiff for a number of claims.<\/p>\n

I tried to treat this pro se plaintiff as I would any other lawyer with whom I interact, and the topic of lawyers pursuing their own claims pro se came up in conversation.\u00a0This lawyer turned pro se plaintiff espoused the advantages and suggested that I should feel empowered to do the same if I felt aggrieved in the future. I countered that I would need to have a significant claim to warrant going to court, since I would likely need to declare litigation matters on bar applications, background check forms, and the like if I ever wanted to pursue certain opportunities in the future.<\/p>\n

I could tell that this lawyer turned pro se plaintiff had not thought about this consequence of pursuing claims in court.\u00a0The lawyer related that it was unlikely that a lawyer would be denied admission to a bar or a job opening for litigating their own claims, but I countered that they still would have to submit additional information and explain the litigation matters when pursuing certain opportunities.\u00a0I generally agree with this lawyer that attorneys pursuing their own claims in court may not warrant denial of job openings, but the hassle of explaining such matters to potential employers and bar authorities might make it less likely to pursue claims.<\/p>\n

I also once had a lawyer friend with whom I worked at a midsize law firm.\u00a0This friend felt aggrieved by a given business, and he decided to litigate his claims against the business.\u00a0His papers were excellent, and my friend definitely drew upon his experience as a lawyer to zealously pursue his claims in court.<\/p>\n

However, the friend said it was uncomfortable to deal with court staff as a pro se plaintiff when he was familiar interacting with them as an attorney. This friend believed that this could fray relationships that might be helpful in his job as a full-time lawyer.\u00a0In addition, it was difficult for this friend to take time off of work to attend all of the court conferences and other proceedings relevant to his case.\u00a0In addition, our bosses at the firm apparently did not like that this friend was litigating his case, perhaps since they thought he was using firm resources to pursue the claims or because this possibly impugned the reputation of our law firm.<\/p>\n

I am not the type of person who would quickly run to court if I felt aggrieved by a particular issue.\u00a0Litigating hundreds, if not thousands, of cases throughout my career has shown me that litigation is a time-consuming enterprise, and judicial resources are better spent on larger matters that cannot be easily resolved between parties. In addition, lawyers litigating their own claims might face barriers to future opportunities and might hurt their reputations in ways that can impact their work as attorneys.<\/p>\n

\n

Jordan Rothman is a partner of\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>The Rothman Law Firm<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Student Debt Diaries<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>jordan@rothm<\/em><\/strong><\/a>an.law<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Are Lawyers More Likely To Litigate Claims As Pro Se Plaintiffs?<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Litigation can be an extremely complex process for individuals unaccustomed to the practices and procedures of pursuing claims in court.\u00a0 As a result, lawyers who have claims of their own might have advantages if they seek to litigate those claims in court, since they can presumably save money on legal fees and benefit from knowledge of the legal system.\u00a0However, some lawyers might be dissuaded from pursuing claims in court since they understand the delays and minutiae of litigation.<\/p>\n

Several years ago, I represented a client who was being sued in a small, somewhat petty matter.\u00a0I observed that the plaintiff was operating pro se, but that the summons and complaint were well drafted. I eventually discovered that the plaintiff was an attorney, which accounted for why this pro se plaintiff had solid papers.\u00a0Upon conducting a search of this lawyer\u2019s name in court records, I discovered that the lawyer had been a pro se plaintiff for a number of claims.<\/p>\n

I tried to treat this pro se plaintiff as I would any other lawyer with whom I interact, and the topic of lawyers pursuing their own claims pro se came up in conversation.\u00a0This lawyer turned pro se plaintiff espoused the advantages and suggested that I should feel empowered to do the same if I felt aggrieved in the future. I countered that I would need to have a significant claim to warrant going to court, since I would likely need to declare litigation matters on bar applications, background check forms, and the like if I ever wanted to pursue certain opportunities in the future.<\/p>\n

I could tell that this lawyer turned pro se plaintiff had not thought about this consequence of pursuing claims in court.\u00a0The lawyer related that it was unlikely that a lawyer would be denied admission to a bar or a job opening for litigating their own claims, but I countered that they still would have to submit additional information and explain the litigation matters when pursuing certain opportunities.\u00a0I generally agree with this lawyer that attorneys pursuing their own claims in court may not warrant denial of job openings, but the hassle of explaining such matters to potential employers and bar authorities might make it less likely to pursue claims.<\/p>\n

I also once had a lawyer friend with whom I worked at a midsize law firm.\u00a0This friend felt aggrieved by a given business, and he decided to litigate his claims against the business.\u00a0His papers were excellent, and my friend definitely drew upon his experience as a lawyer to zealously pursue his claims in court.<\/p>\n

However, the friend said it was uncomfortable to deal with court staff as a pro se plaintiff when he was familiar interacting with them as an attorney. This friend believed that this could fray relationships that might be helpful in his job as a full-time lawyer.\u00a0In addition, it was difficult for this friend to take time off of work to attend all of the court conferences and other proceedings relevant to his case.\u00a0In addition, our bosses at the firm apparently did not like that this friend was litigating his case, perhaps since they thought he was using firm resources to pursue the claims or because this possibly impugned the reputation of our law firm.<\/p>\n

I am not the type of person who would quickly run to court if I felt aggrieved by a particular issue.\u00a0Litigating hundreds, if not thousands, of cases throughout my career has shown me that litigation is a time-consuming enterprise, and judicial resources are better spent on larger matters that cannot be easily resolved between parties. In addition, lawyers litigating their own claims might face barriers to future opportunities and might hurt their reputations in ways that can impact their work as attorneys.<\/p>\n

\n

Jordan Rothman is a partner of\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>The Rothman Law Firm<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Student Debt Diaries<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>jordan@rothm<\/em><\/strong><\/a>an.law<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Are Lawyers More Likely To Litigate Claims As Pro Se Plaintiffs?<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Litigation can be an extremely complex process for individuals unaccustomed to the practices and procedures of pursuing claims in court.\u00a0 As a result, lawyers who have claims of their own might have advantages if they seek to litigate those claims in court, since they can presumably save money on legal fees and benefit from knowledge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":136520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-136594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/laptop-gavel-lawyer-GettyImages-2211365487-LD8Iit.jpg?fit=2121%2C1414&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}