header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us
06 November 2014 / Dr Jon Robins
Issue: 7629 / Categories: Opinion
printer mail-detail

The state of the nation

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All Rights Reserved.

A recent study highlights the fragile & fractured nature of our justice system, says Jon Robins

There was something for all the press in a recent study of different judicial systems published by the Council of Europe earlier this month. “We spend seven times more on legal aid than the French”, was the suitably outraged headline in the Daily Mail. “Women make up only 25% of judges in England and Wales,” was The Guardian’s take on the same story. The report revealed that women make up only 25% of judges in England and Wales—only Azerbaijan and Armenia fared worse. “Norway tops European legal aid spending table,” was how the Law Society Gazette reported the story.

“The £2bn Britain spends each year dwarfs every other country in Europe,” harrumphed the Daily Mail. Our legal aid spend is compared with France’s £290m and Germany’s £272m. In England and Wales the average spend of £26.59 per head far outstripped the European average of £7. We were only beaten by the Norwegians

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
Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Partner joinscorporate and finance practice in British Virgin Islands

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Firm strengthens children department with adoption and surrogacy expert

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Media and technology expert joins employment team as partner in Cambridge

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