header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us
23 March 2018 / Dr Jon Robins
Issue: 7786 / Categories: Opinion , Legal aid focus , Legal services
printer mail-detail

Dark days for legal aid

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All Rights Reserved.
nlj_7786_robins

Legal aid lawyers are undervalued, underpaid & under pressure, as Jon Robins explains

More than half of aspiring legal aid lawyers earned less than £25,000, according to a new study into social mobility by the Young Legal Aid Lawyers (YLAL) published earlier this month. ‘I pay out for rent, food, travel to work, my phone and Internet and there is nothing left. It’s depressing,’ complained one of the respondents who was managing to subsist in London on just £17,000 a year. The lawyer had to think twice about buying a 39p pack of sweets because they could not afford the ‘extravagance’. ‘I cannot live on my salary. My parents have to help me out,’ they said. ‘The money side of things is really soul-destroying. Firms are paying peanuts because they can.’

Social diversity

‘Young’ legal aid lawyers aren’t quite as young as you might think. Membership of YLAL is not age-dependent; instead a lawyer must be less than ten years post-qualified. The research drew on a survey of 200 respondents: they were

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
Sponsored by
London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

Fieldfisher partner appointed president as LSLA marks milestone year

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Firm promotes two lawyers to partnership across employment and family

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Firm promotes five lawyers to partnership across key growth areas

NEWS
Read All
NLJ this week: Divorce ‘nuclear weapon’ freezes assets but entangles outsiders
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
NLJ this week: What counts as ‘rent’? Court says labour alone won’t do
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Your magistrates’ court needs you!
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
NLJ this week: Freed but failed—justice system leaves the innocent empty-handed
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
NLJ this week: Clarity on whistleblowing, settlements and tribunal limits
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
back-to-top-scroll