Sorry but this is just plain bollocks. I have been up against many litigants in person and they (the LiPs) have all been disasters in some way. The average layman is wildly incompetent in court process and procedure. It's not their fault. Court process is byzantine and inaccessible by its very nature.

There's a world of difference between reading up on the legal principles of negligence or division of matri assets (on singaporelegaladvice.com or even spending substantial time self-studying these topics), versus actually knowing Steps A, B, C, D, E...Z in terms of the civil procedure and evidential rules that's necessary to get a case up from scratch all the way to trial.

Litigants outsource their case to lawyers to deal with Steps A to Z, and the infinite mundanity of legal process and procedure, not merely because their lawyer knows the principles of negligence. (Anybody with a competent grasp of English can learn about negligence). But because court procedure is extremely tedious.

You also alluded to paying lawyers to take care of the time and trouble, but you vastly downplay this fact.

The litigants who can afford to spend the time and trouble to DIY their own cases, have literally nothing better to do in their lives. Usually, their legal case consumes their entire free time/waking moments. They are either retirees, or people with a vendetta or axe to grind, or an obsession with some cause or perceived personal injustice. People like Jeanne-Marie Ten come to mind.

The vast majority of laymen never come into contact with the Court system. Among those who do, those litigants who self-represent and who interact with the court system for extended periods, usually come away from the process traumatized and scarred in some way. Life-changing, in not a good way.