IANAL, but here are some other things that others involved in the system have related to me: A lot of what the lawyers do is to prepare the case and documents

IANAL, but here are some other things that others involved in the system have related to me: A lot of what the lawyers do is to prepare the case and documents in order to save work for the judge. If there's a amateur doing it, it can mean a lot more work for the judge and he may not be real thrilled about it. Be prepared to explain why do you don't have a lawyer doing it. It's hard to know how well the answer "because I didn't want to pay lawyer's rates" is going to go over because the judge and all of his professional peers are lawyers. In a smaller city it's quite possible that everyone in the room (including the opposing lawyer) will know each other well and lunch together on a regular basis. Except you.