Self-represented litigants — pro se parties who navigate the legal system without an attorney — are among the most vulnerable participants in any court proceeding. They typically do not know procedural rules, do not understand how to preserve issues for appeal, may not recognize when opposing counsel is taking advantage of their inexperience, and often lack the resources to retain counsel even when the stakes are high. The Ethics Reporter examines how attorneys and courts treat self-represented litigants, including cases where opposing counsel took procedural advantages that violated the spirit of fair play, where courts failed to provide basic procedural information to unrepresented parties, and where the judicial system's complexity effectively denied justice to people who could not afford lawyers.