About Litigant
Croydon Magistrates' CourtDecember 2025
“You chose to represent yourself”
I heard a magistrate say those words to a young man, probably twenty-one, who told the court he didn't understand a point of law. It was his first time in a courtroom. The implication was clear: this was his problem, his decision.
But he hadn't decided anything. He couldn't afford a lawyer. That's not a choice.
He stood up anyway. For thirty minutes he argued his case. Nervous, stumbling over words, but fighting. He didn't argue that he was innocent or guilty. He argued that the evidence put before the court was incomplete.
He turned out to be right.
At the end of it, he thanked the magistrates for being lenient. The magistrate paused.
The magistrate paused
“Sir, it's your right to have all the evidence presented to you. You don't need to thank me.”
That line stuck with me. Even the bench seemed to recognise what had just played out. Someone with no legal training, no solicitor, no preparation, pleading his case to people whose world he did not know and who held his future in their hands.
That is what the system asks people to do.
In England and Wales there is no automatic right to a lawyer.
People find this out at the worst possible moment.
The system
Designed by lawyers, for lawyers.
Since 2013, legal aid for most private family law has been stripped away. The people affected didn't ask for that. They're parents fighting to see their children, people going through the worst period of their lives, ordinary individuals facing allegations they need to answer.
The system was designed by lawyers, for lawyers. Judges still wear wigs. Court bundles have to be indexed in a specific order. Legal language hasn't changed in centuries. And then we ask ordinary people to walk in alone and defend themselves.
Since helping people prepare for court, I've seen CPS evidence packs that copy entire sections from unrelated cases into a defendant's bundle. I've seen the prosecution miss evidence submission deadlines by months, only to tell a self-represented defendant that the best they can do is play the evidence live in court and respond on the spot.
No preparation.
No time.
Just react.
Why I built this
Built by a litigant, for litigants.
In 2025 I needed lawyers myself, for something. The detail isn't the point.
What surprised them was my preparation. I came to the first meeting with four pages of A3, printed out. Every event in date order. The full chronology with the evidence next to each line. They told me they don't usually see that level of preparation from a client.
Then I started watching the meter.
Hours billed for writing up timetables. Hours billed for drafting chronologies. Hours billed for filling in forms with facts the client already had.
Work that did not need a lawyer's training, charged at a lawyer's rate.
You wouldn't pay a taxi driver £30 to ask you the way home. So why pay your solicitor £250 an hour to learn what happened from you, write it up, send it back, take your corrections, retype, and send again? Hand them what you already know. Pay them to drive.
“Pay lawyers to advise, not to write up your timetable or submit forms.”
A lawyer's value is judgement. Anything that is not judgement should not be on the lawyer's bill.
So I built the tools that handle the parts that were never about judgement. Timetable. Documents. Disclosure. Cross-examination prep. The structural work, end to end.
Whatever a litigant brings to a lawyer or to court, Litigant builds for them. Free, or for less than an hour of solicitor time.
That holds for people who cannot afford a lawyer. It holds for people who can.
Why Litigant exists
Walk into court prepared, not lost.
I want to make sure that when someone has no choice but to represent themselves, they can do it properly. That they walk into court prepared, not lost.
Your ability to present your case, organise your evidence, and understand the process should not depend on your bank balance.
James François
Founder, Litigant
About the company
Litigant is the trading name of Litigant Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales.
- Company number
- 17190124
- Registered office
- 124-128 City Road, London EC1V 2NX
- Incorporated
- 29 April 2026