CONTRACT POSER ; ;The allegation you make that the Legal Services Commission expected criminal practitioners to sign up to a contract which was silent on the issue of fees, makes, no doubt, a good story (see [2000] Gazette, 16 November, 16). ;I write to point out the obvious problem with it, which is that it is not true. From the outset, we have said that there would be a separate discussion on rates, which would be settled only in the new year following consultation in advance of signing of contracts. The commission has never suggested that contracts would be signed before rates of pay were finalised. Our position has been set out clearly in statements to the Gazette, in fact covered in an article last month (see [2000] Gazette, 19 October, 3). ;Unfortunately, the inaccurate content of the editorial adds unnecessarily to the natural anxiety that inevitably accompanies major change. ;Steve Orchard, chief executive, Legal Services Commission, London ; ; ; ;