In our exclusive interview with the justice secretary last week, Chris Grayling stressed that he would never use the term ‘fat-cat lawyer’. We are inclined to believe him. Trouble is, he doesn’t have to. The attack dogs of the tabloid press will do the job for him, seeking to neuter public opposition to his assault on equality before the law through their calculated misrepresentation of what is at stake.

‘The government seems to have relied too heavily on stereotypes’ when formulating its price-competitive tendering proposals, bar chair Maura McGowan opined last week. Too true.

That pernicious term came to mind last Monday as the Gazette team joined 7,500 lawyers at the London Legal Walk, which raised £575,000 for free legal advice services in London and the south-east. Lawyers in 15 other towns and cities are doing their bit over the next few weeks. It’s unlikely you’ll be reading too much about that in the public prints.

From humble beginnings, the legal walks have come to exemplify all that is best about the profession, and the passionate concern for access to justice that burns bright among lawyers of all stripes. Attorney general Dominic Grieve paid tribute to the profession’s altruism at the Law Society, as well he might.

Mr Grayling, alas, was not present.