Dressing the part

It was refreshing to see the letter from Peter Gildener being so supportive regarding the issue of solicitor advocates and court dress (see [2002] Gazette, 25 April, 19).

Many members of our profession have proved to be unsupportive over this issue, and I recall a sarcastic letter to the Gazette in which the writer referred to 'really losing sleep over the issue of wigs'.

We now have the rights to appeal at Crown Court.

Most solicitors that I know can do as good a job as, if not better than, most of the junior bar, and we should be encouraged to attend Crown Court with unified dress, otherwise the client, if nobody else, may have the feeling that we are somehow second rate and that he is not having the services of a 'proper barrister'.

At a recent Crown Court hearing, the judge made it clear that he was treating me differently to counsel when refusing an application for a certificate of attendance upon an advocate at a trial, which is contrary to the spirit of those regulations.

It is not an easy situation when you are not on an equal playing field, but it is a boost to know that some fellow professionals support you.

AD Green, solicitor-advocate, Leslie Harris Solicitors & Advocates, Blackpool