Photo by Kathy Anderson.

While the situation in the Gulf region has created a perfect storm straining the civil justice system, other problems are chipping away at moderate- and middle-income Americans in dozens of state and federal judicial systems. Judges across the country struggle to preside over cases in which a significant number of self-represented litigants misinterpret the law or fail to present key pieces of evidence, says John Levi, board chairman of the Legal Services Corp.