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Michigan Legal Help urges clearer guidance and stronger language to aid self‑represented litigants
Summary
Michigan Legal Help supported a proposed amendment to the Code of Judicial Conduct that would authorize judges to make "reasonable efforts" to ensure self‑represented litigants are fairly heard, and urged the court to provide specific examples and consider stronger wording.
Michigan Legal Help told the Michigan Supreme Court that a proposed amendment to the Code of Judicial Conduct encouraging judges to make reasonable efforts to facilitate hearings for self‑represented litigants should include more specific guidance and stronger language.
ADM File 2022-48 would amend MCJC Canon 3 to allow a judge to take reasonable steps so all litigants may be fairly heard. Kim Kramer, a lawyer with Michigan Legal Help, said the change is "a critical step toward ensuring meaningful access to justice" but recommended that the court provide illustrative examples of permissible judicial actions and consider language that would say judges "should" rather than "may" make reasonable efforts.
Kramer noted that several other jurisdictions that have adopted similar rules — including Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and Ohio — provided guidance lists of permissible actions to assist judges in applying the standard. Michigan Legal Help's written comment supplied a non‑prescriptive menu of steps judges might take, the witness said, to reduce uncertainty about boundaries between active case management and impermissible advocacy. Kramer said the committee should consider strengthening the wording to promote more consistent experiences for self‑represented litigants across courts.
No questions indicated any opposition during the hearing; the court did not announce a decision at the close of public comment.
