Appointment of a representative low-income participant in the Civil trial

The article concerns the appointment of legal counsel to a litigant in civil proceedings on grounds of his or her indigence. The core of the article consists of two parts. After sketching the general algorithm for assessing parties’ request for appointment of legal counsel that is established in the statutes regulating Czech civil proceeding, the first part surveys chiefly the case law of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court. In their rulings the aforementioned courts have outlined the reasoning that should be followed in such cases as well as indicated which facts are to be deemed irrelevant in assessment of the litigants’ requests. Subsequently the article follows up with analysis of recent decisions of three district courts; the analysis concentrates on determining whether the district courts are consistent both internally and with other courts (incl. the Constitutional and Supreme Courts) in deciding on the requests for appointment of free legal counsel. In both core sections the author comments on the conclusions reached by the courts with regard to the right to a fair trial and an effective of access to court.