If a job is worth doing it is worth paying someone else to do it properly

It is often said, sometimes in jest, that if a job is worth doing it is worth paying someone else to do it properly. Lord Judge, the Chair of the Judges’ Council has recently commented that proposed Government changes to the court system are likely to cause “a huge increase” in the number of ‘DIY litigants’. Are the current proposals to slash legal aid more likely to result in the freeing up of the court system because more people will choose alternatives such as mediation or as some senior judges have suggested will the courts grind to a virtual standstill as hundreds of thousands of people represent themselves in legal cases?

The lawyer who conducts his own case is said to have a fool for a client. Is the position of DIY litigants different? In some areas the court system appears already to be at breaking point. The proposed closure of a number of courts is likely only to worsen that. Is the threatened withdrawal of legal aid the straw that finally breaks the camels back?

Paul Grimwood, Partner, Hart Brown