The complete failure of the regulations regarding referral fees reported comes as no surprise (see (2006) Gazette, 21 September, 1).

The Law Society made a fundamental error when it relaxed the rule against such payments because such a rule had become difficult to enforce.


Unsurprisingly, those who flouted the rules in the first place are unconcerned about complying with another set of rules. The thought that commercial organisations 'introducing' could be induced to comply with these rules is also laughable.


People come to solicitors and repose their trust in us because there is a fair-to-even chance that we are not corrupt. They expect us to protect them and look after their interests. Referral fees or 'bungs', as I prefer to call them, distort that duty and tend to corrupt.


Not to re-impose the ban would show an appalling lack of self-respect. The re-imposition of the ban would inconvenience some solicitors financially, but that should not be a consideration in rule-making.


Andrew Cohen, W Davies, Woking, Surrey