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Comment by hedora | Hacker News Reader

I’ve been unlucky enough to have good reason to sue a few times in the last few years.

The courts are essentially inaccessible to 99% of the population. You can go to small claims court where the limit for damages is $12,500 in California (less than a half year’s rent around here), or you can hire a lawyer and pay $50-100K minimum before the trial even starts (on both sides).

The upshot is that I’m out around $100K (spread across a few different incidents) with absolutely no legal recourse.

Anyway, more access to the courts (and faster/more painful rejection of nuisance suits) would go a long way to fixing our legal system.

It would also be good if private individuals could directly press criminal charges.

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> or you can hire a lawyer and pay $50-100K minimum before the trial even starts

What are those lawyers doing that’s worth so much, and that one cannot do themselves if they have time and mental capacity for it?

I don’t know about courts (though I managed my way through a simple divorce case without any need for a lawyer), but e.g. immigration attorneys are typically drastically overpriced for the services they provide - and I’ve dealt with six immigration events (two people, two countries, four events obtaining new residencies and two renewals, all six sharing a lot but being different situations under different clauses - lottery, income, marriage, family reunion) without any significant issues. Contrary to every single lawyer it wasn’t some rocket science - just stuff to learn, forms to fill and protocols to follow. And this makes me wonder if legal is actually as inaccessible and as risky to a layman as lawyers picture it…

This is like stating, "What are software engineers doing that's worth so much? There's plenty of free code courses online."

It reminds me of the old story of the plumber being called to a house that's leaking water out of a pipe, and the plumber looks around, finds one valve and gives it a half turn, and then writes a bill for 100$. The home owner is outraged he is charging so much for just a couple of minutes, and the plumber responds, "You aren't paying me to turn a valve, you are paying me to know which valve to turn."

Sure you could learn the law and represent yourself, but you can't expect results to be as good as anyone who practices law might do. It's a knowledge field, and experience matters.

> This is like stating, "What are software engineers doing that's worth so much? There's plenty of free code courses online."

Well, that’s not perfectly accurate comparison. When adjusted for nuances it’s much less clear what’s best. If a quick course is all you really need to get something done, and there are no e.g. maintenance concerns (so you don’t care if something is merely acceptable and not up to the best standards - as I get it, without any research, the case is effectively an one-off thing), and the professional services are notoriously costly, it makes me wonder why. In such scenario DIY approach looks very compelling to me.

Because I’ve heard the same thing about immigration and it turned out to be false. My current understanding is that there are a lot of immigration cases that may need a lawyer but a lot more where it’s a total waste of money.

Of course I can be wrong. There are always nuances and differences. That’s why I’ve asked what makes it so costly.

> It would also be good if private individuals could directly press criminal charges.

That seems at first glance like a bad idea. Can you explain your thinking as to how and why it might work?

> Can you explain your thinking as to how and why it might work?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_prosecution

...has a good summary of how it works in a number of countries.

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