Your headline on complaints handling led me to the Law Society's annual report to discover the scale and quality of the complaints crisis (see [2003] Gazette, 2 October, 1).

The report has lots of statistics and detail, but does not reveal the wood for the trees.

Some complaints lead to disciplinary action and compensation.

But what of the rest? The statistics suggest that one in six solicitors is the subject of a complaint.

This cannot be the case, so what proportion of solicitors is subject to complaints? The report contains detail, but how many complaints have substance, and how many are baseless? It gives no easy clues.

Is it any wonder that the Department for Constitutional Affairs is so aggressive towards the solicitors' profession? We seem unable to define the problem.

It was once suggested that 20% of firms cause 80% of complaints.

If this remains the case, drastic measures - more than a practice standards unit - will be needed to make these people reform or get out.

One avoids complaints by the application of common sense and respect for clients.

It is not that difficult.

There is something wrong with solicitors if an absence of business common sense is leading to the loss of self-regulation.

Legal aid is to blame.

It cut the link between providing a service and persuading people to pay for it.

Too many solicitors cannot see that simple point.

John Hardman, John Hardman & Co, Manchester