A letter about nothing

I read with interest the good practice article about the right approach to claims handling (see [2000] Gazette, 11 May, 50).The Office for the Supervision of Solicitors criticised (and presumably penalised) a firm of solicitors for failing to write to a client periodically to tell her that nothing was happening in relation to her case from time to time (there was good reason, as the article points out, for the inactivity).Perhaps someone will tell the OSS that if the client had been legally aided, the district judge, in assessing costs, may well have disallowed payment for those letters, on the basis that they did nothing significantly to advance the case.

Which way are we supposed to turn?Mike Sanders, Dennis Faulkner & Alsop, Northampton