The days when every litigant was represented by an attorney are from a bygone era. The clogged dockets of general district courts are a testament to the prevalence of pro se litigation in Virginia. As self-representation has increased in recent times, court systems nationwide, including Virginia’s, have lagged in meeting the increased challenges of pro se litigation.

The United States Congress has recognized that actual and apparent corruption exists in the federal campaign finance system and has passed campaign finance reform legislation in an attempt to curb that corruption.[1] The Supreme Court of the United States also has recognized the existence of such corruption and, accordingly, has upheld much of the campaign finance legislation enacted by Congress.

The Virginia Declaratory Judgments Act[1] (“Act”) was passed in 1922 with “a view to making the courts more serviceable to the people.”[2] The purpose of the Act “is to afford relief from the uncertainty and insecurity attendant upon controversies over legal rights, without requiring one of the parties interested so to invade the rights asserted by the other as to entitle him to maintain an ordinary action therefor.”

The sage author of last year’s family law survey, Professor Robert Shepherd, noted almost prophetically “the next year promises to be far more eventful with the so-called ‘Marriage Amendment’ on the November 2006 ballot . . . . [T]he long-term consequences of the constitutional amendment, whether intended or unintended, are substantial.”

Just like the day we learned to ride a bike, most of us probably recall the day we were first introduced to the brave new world of computers. Little then did we realize, nor do we yet fully recognize, the power locked within the chip that processes our insatiable need for information.