The Brief:
Self-represented claims in the Federal Court have jumped 80% in a year, led by a spike in appeals.
Migration makes up more than half of all self-rep claims, while self-rep employment claims have doubled.
Self-reps are swamping the Federal Court.
The court’s FY26 annual report shows 861 proceedings started by “litigants in person” were allocated to judges, up from 477 in FY25 and 325 in FY24. That’s an 80% jump in a year, and a 165% rise in two years.
Overall filings rose just 9%.
Here’s the breakdown by practice area:
Practice area | New claims FY26 | Self-rep claims FY25 | Self-rep claims FY26 | Self-rep growth YoY | Self-rep share FY26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Migration | 829 | 215 | 486 | +126% | 58.6% |
Admin, constitutional & human rights | 333 | 121 | 137 | +13% | 41.1% |
Employment & IR | 437 | 37 | 81 | +119% | 18.5% |
Commercial & corporations | 3,916 | 68 | 109 | +60% | 2.8% |
Other (IP, tax, native title, crime, defamation) | 464 | 36 | 48 | +33% | 10.3% |
Total | 6,010* | 477 | 861 | +80% | 14.3% |
* Total also includes 31 maritime claims
Appeals are doing the heavy lifting. Self-rep appeals rocketed from 169 to 453, as parties who lost in lower courts take another swing.
Migration is the epicentre, making up more than half of all self-rep claims. Meanwhile, self-rep employment claims have more than doubled. The court expects that trend to continue as self-reps turn to AI to draft court documents, mirroring what’s happening at the Fair Work Commission.
Chief Justice Debra Mortimer said:
“Proceedings involving litigants in person have a disproportionate impact on the Federal Court’s resources. These proceedings typically involve substantially higher levels of correspondence, more frequent interlocutory applications, and more intensive case management.”
Self-rep cases can need 2-3x as many court dates, orders and communications as cases where everyone has a lawyer, according to the court’s own sampling.
The court says self-reps aren’t going anywhere, calling them an ongoing feature of its work rather than a short-term pressure.
