Warning over rise in self-represented litigants
The already “significant” increase in the number of self-represented litigants appearing in court is likely to rise further from next April, Lord Judge has warned.
Speaking at his annual press conference last week, the Lord Chief Justice said judges have to strike a “delicate balance” to ensure the self-represented litigant is “getting justice and doing justice to his own case” without upsetting the litigant who is represented into thinking “the judge has made up his mind against them”. This situation becomes more difficult where both sides are self-represented, he said.
“The cases take much longer and they are more difficult for the judge. The judge, contrary to some popular idea, does not know all the law…He needs to be shown where to find the law.”
Lord Judge said he was concerned about the lack of women and ethnic minority judges on the Bench, but said changing this was like “turning a tanker around” since only 11% of QCs and a quarter of law firm partners are women. He questioned how many directors of large companies or newspaper editors are female, and said the judicial system was “reflective of our society”—a fact he said he was “not happy” about.
