It seems reasonable to me that the plaintiff would have to establish the elements of their case before requiring any response from a defendant (though of course

It seems reasonable to me that the plaintiff would have to establish the elements of their case before requiring any response from a defendant (though of course response should be allowed). Only after a court has found that the defendant needs to mount a defense should he need to hire a lawyer. Instead, our courts generally work the other way -- if you don't show up, you lose no matter how ridiculous the other guy's claims are. The legal system would benefit greatly from being framed as a cost/benefit optimization problem instead of as reasoning in a byzantine para-consistent logic.