Three cheers for recent letters setting out the case for liberation from referral fees. Our firm takes the same position; we also refuse to advertise.

We consider that our clients have a right to expect that the monies they pay to us for our costs are applied to the running of our practice and the fair remuneration of our fee-earners and other staff – not to line the pockets of leeches who add no value to their transactions.

Your editorial of 3 December sought to explain the diminution of the standing of the profession in light of general societal changes. I do not agree. By paying bribes for work, by delegating matters to half-trained staff in call centres and warehouses, and by confusing tokenised customer service standards with the need to promote clients’ interests, our profession has chipped away at its own supporting structures.

It is time for the Law Society to decide whether to lead us back from this position, or to abandon itself to an unending spiral of pointless introspection.

Laurence Mann, A L Hughes & Co, London SW16