A massive rise in court cases in which people are acting without lawyers is threatening to bring the civil justice system to a virtual standstill.
The number has risen by 40 per cent and is predicted to reach 650,000 a year in April — one in four of all cases in the civil courts.
Senior judges, including the Lord Chief Justice, as well as leading academics and lawyers, are warning that the growth of DIY litigants is a ticking timebomb. The issue will come to a head next year when funding cuts bite and legal aid is removed for most family and civil cases.
A poll conducted exclusively for The Times by the Bar, which holds its annual conference in London today, found that half