>There is no reason that an educated, intelligent man shouldn't be able to represent himself in most cases with fair preparation Yes there is. Even an educated

>There is no reason that an educated, intelligent man shouldn't be able to represent himself in most cases with fair preparation Yes there is. Even an educated, intelligent person has less practice at legal defense than a merely average lawyer. Statutes are also more complicated than you think. I work in an office that has a legal library, which is pretty rare these days as most places are moving to electronic sources. The sheer volume of statutes and precedents would shock you, and our legal library is on the small side since we don't deal with all areas of the law. If your life and livelihood are on the line, better to go with an expert professional than to do it yourself with no prior experience.