Snapshot
- One quarter of all family law litigants in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia are self-represented litigants, the vast majority for purely financial reasons.
- Unbundled legal services offer respite from self-representation for litigants at pivotal, strategic points of their litigation journey.
- Unbundled legal services may enable self-represented parties to optimise their access to legal representation.
Very few self-represented litigants (also known as litigants in person (‘LIP’)) choose to represent themselves because they believe they do not need a lawyer. Instead, self-representation is usually a financial decision generated from the litigant’s belief they cannot afford a lawyer or that legal representation is not a good value proposition for them. Unfortunately, there is very little Legal Aid funding available for civil disputes and privately-funded lawyers come with a hefty price tag. This is particularly problematic in family law cases where people are already facing the unhappy prospect of having their assets, and often the care of their children, divided unsatisfactorily with their previous partner. Unbundled legal services, where clients pay on a piecemeal basis for the services they most need and can afford, present a strategically important dispute resolution path which is gaining traction in family law disputes.
