We see it all the time: Family litigants who think that the more paper they file, the more chance of winning.  Here’s a secret: Courts don’t decide cases based on page count.

We call these “affidavit war” files.  She files an affidavit setting out that he was mean to her, drinks too much, neglects the kids.  He responds says that she also drinks, had a “reputation” in high school (20 years ago) as a druggie, and feeds the kids take-out.  She then replies that he sold drugs at university (15 years ago), has three roadside prohibitions, and once kicked a cute little doggie.  He replies that she called his mother a nasty word in front of the kids.  And so on.

When lawyers write arguments, we call them: “briefs” (English nerds say: “brieves”).  That’s because they are supposed to be brief. As in: short, to the point, concise.  Not a garbage truck full of paper.

You may feel the need to tell your story.  To let the judge know just how awful your ex-spouse really is.  Court is not the place for that.

Judges hate the affidavit wars.  Here’s a recent case where the judge was especially irritated: https://canlii.ca/t/jmq0v.  The parties ended up filing 14 affidavits – 2 by the children.  Justice Kent is known for being impatient with bad work by lawyers, and he let them know it:

… “purporting to shovel volumes of correspondence and other documents into evidence. The parties’ affidavits were voluminous and filled with inadmissible argument and accusation.”

“Self-represented litigants might be forgiven for their ignorance of the law related to the admissibility of evidence at trial. Counsel should know better.”

Presumably these lawyers charged for all that useless material.  It’s a business, right? One bickering affidavit after another: “Did so!” [cha-ching!]; “Did not!” [cha-ching!]; “Did so, and your mother is a monster!” [cha-ching!]”; “Did not, and you sleep around!” [cha-ching!]. 

A lawyer should not surrender her/his professional judgement.  Clients – by definition – can not solve their problems themselves.  For the lawyer to let the client carry on ranting in court documents is disgraceful.  Clear-cutting a forest to dump truck useless paper into court doesn’t work.  Honing the evidence and argument to what really matters does work.  That takes experience and judgment.

A lawyer should give clear guidance. That’s what we do. That’s who we are: Clear Legal.