We all know that confidentiality is the bedrock of a solicitor’s duty to his client. But how many conveyancing solicitors freely discuss their client’s business on the telephone with the selling agents of other parties, solicitors not connected with the client’s own transaction?

And how many do the same with the growing number of so-called ‘property consultants’, often appointed by developers for the sole benefit of the developer, to ‘oversee’ the transaction?

How many clients would consent to their business being so widely discussed?

Trevor F Moore, solicitor and notary public, Ibstock, Leicestershire