How should the legal profession prepare for the increase in litigants in person, asks DJ Harold Godwin
There can be few legal practitioners looking forward to the prospect of there being more litigants in person (LIPs) before the courts. However, it’s inevitable that such will be the consequence of increasing the scope of “small claims” in the county court, to include claims up to £10,000, and reducing the availability of legal aid in civil and family cases.
Impact of reform
The impact of the latter reforms was anticipated by the government right from the outset. In 2010, when the green paper proposing the legal aid reforms was published, it contained the following passage: “We recognise that the proposals to reduce the scope of legal aid will, if implemented, lead to an increase in the number of litigants representing themselves in court in civil and family proceedings. This may potentially lead to delays in proceedings, poorer outcomes for litigants (particularly when the opponent has legal representation), implications for the judiciary, and costs for Her Majesty’s Court Service”.
Those words sounded a wake-up call
