Siddiqa Amin's appearance in an Ottawa courtroom last month had all the makings of a Hollywood movie script.

The Carleton criminology graduate doesn't have a law degree, but after she successfully defended her brother on three criminal charges, including assaulting a uniformed police officer, Justice Jean-Marie Bordeleau suggested she should consider a legal career.

The incident was notable for two reasons: for the unusual spectre of a judge praising a non-lawyer's legal skills; and because success by non-lawyers defending themselves and others in court is so rare.

But not for the lack of trying. Growing numbers of people are representing themselves in Canadian courtrooms. If that results in a lop-sided system - with better access to justice for the wealthy or those who qualify for legal aid - then everyone should be concerned.

An article in National, the magazine of the Canadian Bar Association, provocatively titled "Life after lawyers" warns that lawyers are becoming a luxury good that many are learning to cope without.

In Ontario, 46 per cent of people attending family court sessions between 1998 and 2003 were not represented by lawyers. Similar numbers represented themselves in other provinces.

One Nova Scotia study found that 40 per cent of people who show up at court without a lawyer said they don't want one, suggesting an anti-lawyer sentiment may also be contributing to the trend.

The problem is that people untrained in the law and unable to mount a reasonable defence, especially in criminal cases, may receive different treatment from the justice system than defendants with lawyers. Equal access to justice is a fundamental right.

What is the solution? There is none in sight. Instead, the justice system appears to be learning how to cope with the new world order, and that is not a bad start.

Courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada, now offer how-to guides for the lawyerless. "This portal provides information and instructions on what is expected of you when you want to bring your own application for leave to appeal or when you have been named as a respondent on an application for leave to appeal," a Supreme Court of Canada web page titled "Representing Yourself" states. The page ends with this warning. "Remember that this is a guide meant to give you helpful information, not legal advice. We always recommend that you get a lawyer."

Other courts offer checklists, information kiosks and guides to help the growing numbers of legal do-it-yourselfers. Nova Scotia even has a Self-Represented Litigants Project within its Department of Justice.

This recognition that people need help manoeuvring the system on their own is important to helping maintain some balance. Equally important are a number of studies aimed at getting a handle on the situation.

Do-it-yourself justice may be a trend that is here to stay, especially in the civil court system. If so, that must be mitigated with legal advice and administrative help for those who need it.

And if legal fees remain out of reach of average Canadians, the result may be that growing numbers discover they can get by without a lawyer.