The Law Society has warned that the courts could be ‘thronged by countless individuals unable to have a lawyer, like a scene from Pickwick Papers’, if the government presses ahead with legal aid reforms without conducting research on the likely effect on the number of litigants in person.

The Society believes that under the proposals only the poorest will continue to be able to obtain civil legal aid and even for them legal aid would cease to be available for some vital matters.

The Ministry of Justice Green paper, published in November, proposes excluding from legal aid all private law children and family matters where domestic violence is not present.

Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson said: ‘There is no doubt that under legal aid cuts, the number of litigants in person will increase. Figures from the governments own impact assessment show the number of family cases funded by legal aid will reduce by 53,000, with mediations increasing by 3,000.’

The civil legal aid cuts will have potentially dangerous consequences for domestic violence victims and children and families facing care proceedings, the Family Law Bar Association (FLBA) has warned.

- Edith