Sandie Graff can be assured there is at least one other grumpy old git who thinks professional standards have deteriorated (see [2007] Gazette, 26 July,16), and anyone who doubts this need only peruse the new code of conduct.


While I was an articled clerk many years ago, I asked my principal to explain conflicts of interest. The reply was: 'If you have the slightest suspicion you have a conflict of interested between two clients, then you have one and you must immediately cease to act for both of them.'



I recently attended a private seminar on the new code and, during the tea break, after we had ploughed through the prolixity of the section on conflicts of interest, I asked our tutor if the many pages the code devotes to the subject add anything to what I had been told by my principal. The answer was 'no'.



I seriously wonder if I want to remain a member of a profession, the governors of which believe its members need to be told, in such detail and at such great length, how we should conduct ourselves. Will they next be telling us to stand up when clients, who have made an appointment, enter our rooms, and to take off our hats when we enter theirs?



William McFarland, Stratford-upon-Avon