The Law Society has warned that the courts could be ‘thronged by countless individuals unable to have a lawyer, like a scene from Pickwick Papers’, if the government presses ahead with legal aid reforms without conducting research on the likely effect on the number of litigants in person.

The Ministry of Justice green paper, published in November, proposes excluding from legal aid all private law children and family matters where domestic violence is not present.

The paper says: ‘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 where the opponent has legal representation), implications for the judiciary, and costs for Her Majesty’s Court Service.’

In the green paper, the Ministry of Justice accepted that there is little evidence on the impact that litigants in person have on the conduct or outcome of proceedings. However, it cited research conducted in 2005, claiming that this concluded that there was no significant difference in terms of court time between cases conducted by a litigant in person and those where clients were represented by lawyers.

The Law Society said the green paper had failed to report that the 2005 research concluded that litigants in person found it hard to participate in their cases and, where they did, often damaged their own interests and created more work for their opponents and the courts.

Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson said: ‘There is no doubt that under legal aid cuts, the number of litigants in person will increase. Figures from the government's own impact assessment show the number of family cases funded by legal aid will reduce by 53,000, with mediations increasing by 3,000.

‘Society will be shocked to see our courts thronged by countless individuals unable to have a lawyer, like a scene from Pickwick Papers.’

Elspeth Thomson, Resolution spokeswoman and partner at Newcastle firm David Gray, said: ‘The MoJ recognises that there is little evidence about the impact of an increased number of litigants in person, yet it is rushing headlong into it. More research should be done.’