E32 Litigants in Person - With Martin Dillon

On episode 32 of the Law Down Under Podcast, we are joined by Martin Dillon, a litigation specialist based in Hamilton, New Zealand.

Martin has an arts degree in philosophy, and his studies focus on ethics. In addition to his private client work, he is also an approved legal aid provider. Martin published CourtKeys.com , which is an access to justice project he launched in 2013 involving a website which answers many frequently asked questions about law and legal processes. He has received awards for innovations in access to justice at the APAC Legal Awards in 2022 and the Lawyer International Legal 100 Awards in 2023.

Martin is the author of Civil Litigation for Non-Lawyers , published by The Legal Drive in 2021. It provides information about how to run a civil Court case in New Zealand. It includes guidance on how to commence a claim in the District Court and the High Court, including what information is needed for particular documents.

We discuss several topics, from philosophy to the composition of the New Zealand Rules Committee and everything in between.  The key focus of our discussion is access to justice, including how the legal profession and the Courts can assist lay litigants (non-lawyers) to use the justice system more efficiently.