Recent management reports from the First and Tenth Judicial Administrative districts indicate the percentage of family law cases involving self-represented litigants in 1999 was 72 percent and 53 percent, respectively. According to the ABA's 1990 research, it is primarily younger, lower-income people without children and little, if any, real estate or property, who choose to represent themselves. However, it does not necessarily follow that self-represented litigants have little education. Rather, the ABA's study indicated that most self-represented litigants have completed some college course work. In 1996, a quarter of the respondents in a study commissioned by the New York State Bar Association were self-represented.
Several reasons exist for the increase in self-representation.
First, the reality is that many individuals above and below the poverty line simply cannot afford an attorney. For those individuals below the poverty line, recent cutbacks in government funding for legal aid has reduced the types and quality of legal services available. There also is a greater number of people today above the poverty line who are ineligible for government-sponsored legal aid, yet unable to afford legal services. The recent proliferation of court television shows further serves to demystify legal proceedings and give citizens confidence to attempt going it alone. Chief Judge Kathryn W. Foster of the Waukesha County Circuit Court has witnessed this firsthand.