As Gazette readers will know, debate rumbles on between lawyers and the Legal Services Commission about the timeliness of payments.

Invited by the Law Society president to crowd-source solutions for parts of the legal profession that are struggling, Obiter cast a productive set of yeux across La Manche to France. And lo, found the answer: nudity.

Or semi-nude, at least. It seems that thousands of French soldiers have, for a year now, frequently had to make do without monthly pay cheques because of malfunctioning software.

Upset by the repeated failure of the francs to arrive, the soldiers’ spouses posted Facebook photographs of their bare backs carrying written messages: ‘We’re proud of you… but your paycheck hasn’t come,’ reads a typical example.

Faced with the enscribed torso of the average legal aid practitioner, Obiter wonders which Legal Services Commission official or minister would not capitulate pretty much immediately?

Obiter can see only one flaw in this tactic – sole practitioners will need a friend to help get the angle on some of the writing and photography.

Otherwise, problem solved.