header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us
09 October 2008 / Roger Smith
Issue: 7340 / Categories: Opinion , Legal services
printer mail-detail

Blinded by statistics?

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All Rights Reserved.

Roger Smith is bemused by the government’s inability to do basic maths

Speaking at a Labour party fringe meeting last month Jack Straw was unequivocal: “There are now three times as many lawyers in private practice, but paid for by the taxpayer, as there were three decades ago.” This statistic would be a startling revelation of how lawyers have benefited from legal aid but it seems incapable of proof and highly unlikely to be true.

Thirty years ago, legal aid statistics for the Crown Court were not co-ordinated with those for other cases. This makes it impossible to know how many lawyers in total were working in legal aid. Furthermore, statistics were never kept for the number of solicitors in receipt of legal aid. The unit of account was the solicitor’s offices to whom cheques were sent. We know that about 4,000 barristers received a cheque and 8,241 solicitors’ offices for non-Crown Court work in 1977–78. Alas, the Legal Services Commission now fills its annual reports with management tosh that does not reveal many useful

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Read All
NLJ Career Profile: Daniel Burbeary, Michelman Robinson

NLJ Career Profile: Daniel Burbeary, Michelman Robinson

Daniel Burbeary, office managing partner of Michelman Robinson, discusses launching in London, the power of the law, and what the kitchen can teach us about litigating

Wedlake Bell—Rebecca Christie

Wedlake Bell—Rebecca Christie

Firm welcomes partner with specialist expertise in family and art law

Birketts—Álvaro Aznar

Birketts—Álvaro Aznar

Dual-qualified partner joins international private client team

NEWS
Read All
NLJ this week: Appeal court reins in ‘wrong defendant’ switcheroo

The Court of Appeal has slammed the brakes on claimants trying to swap defendants after limitation has expired. In Adcamp LLP v Office Properties and BDB Pitmans v Lee [2026] EWCA Civ 50, it overturned High Court rulings that had allowed substitutions under s 35(6)(b) of the Limitation Act 1980, reports Sarah Crowther of DAC Beachcroft in this week's NLJ

NLJ this week: CPR tweak closes third-party disclosure gap
A seemingly dry procedural update may prove potent. In his latest 'Civil way' column for NLJ this week, Stephen Gold explains that new CPR 31.12A—part of the 193rd update—fills a ‘lacuna’ exposed in McLaren Indy v Alpa Racing
NLJ this week: Court of Appeals wrestles with Mazur fallout
The long-running Mazur saga edged towards its finale as the Court of Appeal heard arguments on whether non-solicitors can ‘conduct litigation’. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School reports from a packed courtroom where 16 wigs watched Nick Bacon KC argue that Mr Justice Sheldon had failed to distinguish between ‘tasks and responsibilities’
NLJ this week: Driving test fraudsters steer towards jail
Cheating in driving tests is surging—and courts are responding firmly. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort Law School charts a rise in impersonation and tech-assisted fraud, with 2,844 attempts recorded in a year
NLJ this week: Deepfakes demand data law muscle
As AI-generated ‘deepfake’ images proliferate, the law may already have the tools to respond. In NLJ this week, Jon Belcher of Excello Law argues that such images amount to personal data processing under UK GDPR
Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
back-to-top-scroll