Too Many Lawyers in Britain Justice Secretary Claims

Tue, 23 Mar 2010

The Justice Secretary Jack Straw has claimed that there are too many lawyers in Britain, leaving taxpayers with an excessive legal bill. Spending on legal aid has risen to £2.1 billion a year in the UK, while the number of lawyers has more than doubled in Britain over the past twenty years. This trend, Mr Straw said, leaves the country in danger of becoming ‘over-lawyered and under-represented’.

Mr Straw’s comments follow efforts by the government to reform the legal aid system in order to save taxpayer money. As part of the reforms, law firms could be forced to merge or find other business, as the government intends to reduce the number of contracts given to solicitors .

The high legal costs of many legal firms leaves many citizens with little choice but to accept legal aid. Almost 1,000 barristers earned more than £100,000 from legal aid last year, while 75 made more than £300,000. The best paid 1,000 criminal legal aid barristers received an estimated £150 million in taxpayer money last year. The highest earning solicitor was found to be Howard Godfrey QC, who amassed earnings of £928,000.
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