Depends on what you are going to court for. If it is criminal then you should get an attorney, and the state will provide you one if you can’t afford one. In criminal cases your attorney will be able to bargain with prosecutors behind the scenes, and usually has the personal phone numbers of the prosecutors. There are also a lot of court room protocols/formalities that need to be followed. Also lots of very common legal precedents that could help you that you may not know about.
As far as civil court or small claims court, you will be fine. They are still ways a lawyer can help but it is much more of a free-for-all that doesn’t require many formal evidence-introducing procedures or have any hearsay rules and things like that.
the state will provide you one if you can’t afford one
I had an appointed attorney one time, she was fairly hot and hostile, I didn't have a chance and after court was over I seen her walking out of the courtroom arm-in-arm with the judge.
Ya know, the cop was as cool as a cop can be when you "allegedly" repeatedly reach for their gun
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