Image: Fox (The Simpsons – Marge in Chains S4E21)

Recently the third edition of ‘The Family Court Without A lawyer – A Handbook For Litigants In Person’ was completed by Lucy Reed but the foreword that was written by Sir Jame Munby, the President of the Family Division, posed a rather existential question for the series: why does a book like this have to be so long and why does the series have to exist at all?

Of course there will always be people who decide to represent themselves in the family legal system and there should be support available for them but it is increasingly becoming the case that such litigants in person have no choice in the matter. This is because legal aid is being stripped away from the family sector and so individuals are increasingly having to fight for their rights in court without any expertise and inside a system that can feel sclerotic even to those who are able to navigate it successfully.

The impact of this is delays and confusion. Such a consequence might have seemed obvious and yet it is counter-intuitive to the government’s overall strategy to reduce spending. Judges, volunteer groups and even government agencies can try their best to fill the gap in funding but ultimately there is a large hole in the system and some of society’s most vulnerable people are falling through it.

Thus a world without lawyers is not quite as green and pleasant as some might often like to assume. Family lawyers often deal with cases where the situation is as equally disturbing as it is heart-breaking and yet they earn nowhere near the money available to those involved in corporate or tax litigation for example.

Due to the nature of the economics this has always been the case but the fact has been exacerbated since the cuts enacted by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012. Beyond the immediate problems associated with litigants in person there are also serious long-term problems for the legal sector. How many law students who are currently working their way towards becoming practising solicitors and barristers will actually pursue family law as an option given that there is very little money to be made from legal aid or otherwise? How many firms that specialise in family law will be able to survive without any form of subsidy?

There will always be graduates who are willing to practise family law despite the problems because, unlike many other areas of law, it is very much a vocation for people. Nevertheless the hard reality remains and with the debts incurred for studying law only growing year-on-year the pressure to get a job that will pay the bills will only serve to push many younger lawyers away from family law.