Recent letters to the Gazette confirm the almost universal view that all is not well in the land of conveyancing.

Statements by Lord Falconer and others about the further liberalisation of the conveyancing market, the added burdens of the stamp duty land tax, and other statutory requirements and the continuing demand of the public at large for low-cost conveyancing will no doubt force more and more practitioners out of this sector altogether.

Like many qualified solicitors, I have decided that enough is enough and moved on to other work, but I wonder about the future.

Conveyancing is a highly specialised field of work.

The demands and complexities of the system seem to be light years away from what they were 50 years ago.

It is therefore unfortunate that those very people who have the required experience are giving it up.

The need is to attract people with honesty, integrity and intelligence who above all, have a sense of responsibility towards both the client and those with whom they are dealing.

Unfortunately some of the 'volume' conveyancing firms now establishing themselves in this field have tended to become institutionalised and their greatest weakness appears to be in this area of responsibility.

As most practitioners know, this weakness is all too often linked with an inadequate grasp of conveyancing law and practice.

It is hard to see how there can be any resolution of this problem when conveyancing finally establishes itself in our supermarkets.

Conveyancing after all remains a service, not a commodity, and quality of service is as much to do with values as it is to procedures.

E-conveyancing may of course streamline the system but the most important issue, both for the client and for members of our profession, is about who handles the system and how they handle it.

That issue has been well addressed by the Law Society and in recent years by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers but what can be said of all those other institutions that now seem poised to enter this 'liberalised' market?

Andrew Bell, Beresfords, Doncaster