Self-represented litigants, as much as it is their right to proceed without counsel.... That raises issues of the cost of legal services, which is another matter. We can talk about a duty counsel, and so on. It is a serious problem. In fact, right now, it is leading to great backlogs, because many self-represented litigants don't have access to the technology, even if the court does.
In fairness to the judges presiding, even at a pretrial conference, where nothing is being specifically decided with a self-represented litigant, they want the proceedings to be recorded. Normally, they are done in an open court with a court reporter present. The problem is that we have judges saying, “I cannot and will not fairly hear this self-rep case in family law or any another matter, because I have to be able to have it recorded.” It's part of doing the job thoroughly.
This is a serious problem. The self-represented issue requires in-person attendants to return, or it at least requires our court staff to come to court, and utilize Zoom technology properly.