Sir James Munby: Family courts fail in ‘world without lawyers’

The judge said the system is designed with legal representation in mind but that in reality “across vast swathes of the family justice system, the typical litigant now has no legal representation”.

As a result, rules and procedures intended for lawyers are “largely inaccessible” and “unintelligible” to those representing themselves – litigants in person.

They are, he said, “no more useful or intelligible to the litigant than the tax statutes are to the taxpayer”.

Sir James’ criticism comes in the foreword to a new book for litigants in person appearing in the family courts: The Family Court without a Lawyer by Lucy Reed.

Ms Reed said people representing themselves “clog up the courts” and delay cases.