BAR ON DEBATE I am a great fan of the independent Bar.

I have many good friends who are barristers.

I have recently explored conversion to the Bar.

However, I am always amused by the contortions barristers can get themselves into in trying to justify the continuing existence of the Bar.

Patrick Walker revisited that chestnut of a justification for the Bar: the quality of its advocacy services (see [2001] Gazette, 1 February, 16).

And yet, statistically, in this country, most advocacy is done by solicitors - and because those solicitors advocate every day, they are good at it.

Of the 8,000 or so barristers in private practice, quite a number only advise.

Some barristers have not been near a court for months or years.

To hold out the Bar as specialist advocates is to ignore these obvious facts.The reasons the independent Bar is a helpful part of legal culture in this country are primarily twofold: barristers are not bombarded with telephone calls from clients every few minutes and so have time to research the law (and bring objectivity to proceedings); and true specialist barristers - of which it is my impression there are fewer and fewer - allow general practitioner solicitors to conduct cases which they otherwise would not wish to risk.Let this unhelpful posturing about advocacy and the Bar be put to bed once and for all.Michael Hackett, principal lecturer, LPC course director, University of Hertfordshire, St Albans