For people in the USA, this is the basics of law, if you want any chance at all, you must DIY:
1) law is in a hierarchy, federal law supercedes state law which supercedes municipal/local law.
2) municipalities/cities are creations of the state, which are creations of the US/federal govt.
Of course, the 13 original colonies created the US/federal govt, but the Civil War fixed that flaw,
and re-made the 13 original states into products of the US/federal govt.
3) you must understand that US=federal, which truly means DC, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Guam, etc.
4) you must understand that USA is everything - US + all states. With regard to "Made in the US" and
passports, US means USA too
Notice they don't say "Made in the USA" much anymore.
5) you must understand that after the revolution in 1776, the only authority in the USA was the
common law (contract and property rights).
6) you must understand that truly, there is only "law of the land that you own", and that honestly,
federal law only applies on federal land, state law only applies on state-owned land, and city/municipal
law only applies on land that the city/municipality has actually purchased. And that truly, people in the
USA are kings on their own land. Land not owned, such as public lands/highways come under the
domain of the common law properly.
7) you must understand that truth is not reality in law, and that by force alone, all governments:
city/municipal/state/federal exceed their territorial jurisdiction, and claim authority on any land owned
by anyone, and public land as well. And that this happens because the common law offices have been
eliminated, and the people are too dumb to establish them (eg, employee sheriffs are not common law
sheriffs).
New York is all land within the boundaries of New York. State of New York is only land within New York
that has been purchased by the state government. A small part of New York, and that is the lawful
extent of the territorial jurisdiction of the State of New York ... but who cares? Who even understands?
9) when this is understood, you must learn the rules of court for whatever court you wish to use,
most generally, you will begin in a State court below the Supreme Court for that State. There is no way
around this: the rules of court are the rules. There's no tricks, magic, or any other thing that will help.
You can use state/federal law - whatever you want - to begin in the State's courts.
10) finally, for every civil or criminal action you prosecute or defend against, you must search the case
law and statutes to find the "essential elements" that are the required proofs of such actions, and then
in few words as possible, and with orderly logic, you must demonstrate evidence of each of these
elements (if prosecuting) or lack of such evidence (if defending).
That's the basic essentials of being your own attorney. You will find that the BAR members will
despise you for making use of THEIR courts ... But there is no other option, since the people
have neglected to establish the common law offices and courts of their own.
Finally, there are 4 organic laws in the USA: DoI, AoC, NW Territorial Ordinance, and Constitution (the latter, which was never "adopted", but merely used to provide some elements with which to modify the AoC, only concerns those living on US property). If you hear people talking about their "1st amendment" or "2nd amendment" rights, you can be sure they are clueless and totally ignorant ... unless they are in DC or a federal park or on other federal/state land. No US president EVER takes any of the oaths in the Constitution - just goes to show you how duped the population is ... compare the presidential oath taken by the president in Wikipedia with those in the Constitution
And the fraud has been going on for over 225 years.
Statistics demonstrate that the man that does his own legal work fairs MUCH BETTER than those that hire attorneys. It is always much better to lose on your own than to pay somebody to lose for you. Also note that most/all state courts lack any rule that states one must pay the court to file an action ... just goes to show you how corrupt the courts are - they extort payments out of your ignorance without any authority to do so. That is what you walk into when you walk into courts - a nest of rats.