Lawyers in southwest France went on strike last week in protest over cuts to legal aid. Over 200 lawyers in Pau staged a protest as part of a nationwide response to government moves to cut €32m (£27.2m) from the ‘budget de l’aide à l’accès au droit’ – a drop of 10%.

The move is a sign of growing anger among the legal profession and follows a resolution passed by the Paris bar to give its chief ‘all powers necessary’ to defend the profession from the cuts, including the power to call a general strike by lawyers in the French capital.