I was interested in Joshua Rozenberg's article on the doom-laden prognoses of Richard Susskind, who apparently believes that, in future, ‘bespoke’ legal services will be the exception (see [2008] Gazette, October 30, 10).

With great respect, what utter tosh. The only examples of so-called ‘commoditised’ work mentioned are debt collection and drafting employment contracts.

While the former may be amenable to mass production (at least until the defence to the claim is served), any lay person who thinks he can draft his own employment contract, given the ludicrous complexity of the relevant law, would be mad.

I am reminded of the enormous fun I had in my articles looking at home-made wills and their invariably disastrous consequences. The simple fact is that, while candles can be mass produced, hence the disappearance of the tallow chandler, over a very wide area and in the vast majority of cases, legal advice of any quality at all cannot and never will be susceptible of standardisation to the required degree.

So I for one will not be buying Susskind's book, nor losing any sleep over the prospect of being richly paid to untangle the mistakes made by lay persons trying to practise law online.

Clive Wismayer, Solicitor, Great Bookham