A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, aligning with other circuits, held that pro se litigants who are also attorneys should not be afforded special consideration or be treated as proceeding without counsel under the circuit rules.

According to a Sept. 1 opinion, authored by Ninth Circuit Judge M. Margaret McKeown, while there is a good reason for awarding leeway to unskilled and unexperienced pro se parties who are more prone to make pleading errors, the same does not apply to practicing attorneys.