Because of financial constraints many people today are forced to act as their own lawyer. There is no reason you cannot act as your own lawyer and I have dealt with many sensible and intelligent people acting for themselves and doing a good job.
But ... as your own lawyer you probably do not know things that are basic for lawyers.
One thing I have seen repeatedly is 'defective service' of claims or applications. And that can set you back months or even years in a law suit. A claim or application that is served incorrectly generally does not start the law suit at all. And so if you have, say, e-mailed an application you can wait and wait -- you might as well have not served at all!
As a general guide, when you are starting a claim or application the defendant or respondent must be handed a copy of the claim or application. It's usually not good enough to email or fax or mail the claim. The best approach is to hire a process server (they are in the phone book and online) and they will serve and file your materials. That costs some money but usually only a hundred dollars or so.
If the defendant or respondent is hiding or 'evading service' you can usually get the Court to give an order allowing you to serve by mail or some other way -- but you need that order before you serve that way.
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