Seeing the wood for the trees: The comparative cost of legal aid

It is no exaggeration to say that legal aid in England and Wales is in crisis, and trite to point out that funding is the core issue. But might we be misunderstanding the nature of the problem and looking in the wrong place for solutions? Could it be that we are staring so hard at the legal aid scheme we have lost the perspective to see it clearly? Rather than arguing about whether legal aid is too expensive, or whether, in fact, too little is being spent, we may be able to use a comparison with other jurisdictions to change the narrative.