A headline in the Independent (8 June) started the ball rolling last week: 'Lord Irvine treats EU justice ministers to a 150,000 bunfight at the Dorchester.'Describing a two-day reception for the ministers in London, the article quoted Franklin Sinclair, chairman of the Criminal Law Solicitors Association: 'We haven't had a legal aid pay rise for six years and it would take me 3,750 hours to be paid that much (150,000) in legal aid.' However this seemed another layer on an old familiar roll of wallpaper: 'Lord Irvine, who has a penchant for Pugin wallpaper, will be at home at the Dorchester, one of London's grandest conference centres - 10,000 rolls of designer wallpaper were used in its recent refurbishment.' Ten out of ten for research.Seeing the gravity of the situation, the Daily Mail (9 June) decided to join in the battle against extravagance: 'Lord Irvine, who famously used 650,000 of taxpayers' money to redecorate his apartment in the palace of Westminster, faced a new spending row last night.' The Mail found a suitably unimpressed Tory MP, Julian Brazier, to provide measured comment: 'If European justice ministers want to have fun in London, they are on the kind of salaries which mean they should be able to pay for it themselves.'But it was left to The Mirror (9 June) to construct the best headline, and it did not disappoint: 'Derry's 150,000 Dorchester bash - and it's all paid for by you...

the taxpayer.'Another story that crossed the divide between tabloids and broadsheets last week concerned 53-year-old solicitor Alan Pritchard, jailed for five years last week for legal aid fraud of up to 2.5 million with two others.The Times (8 June) noted the weaknesses of the old legal aid system: 'The jury was told that the three men got away with the swindle for so long because the Legal Aid Board had not required proof of work carried out but had relied on solicitors being truthful.'The Daily Mail (8 June) quoted the judge: 'It is perhaps one of the saddest duties ever confronting a judge - having to deal with a professional man, a solicitor, who has fallen from grace.'The Times (8 June) effusively welcomed the appointment of the new Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf.

According to the article, Lord Woolf has always achieved two things as a judge that have set him apart: 'He has made it his business to consult ordinary people - something judges are notoriously loath to do.

And he has recognised that whatever he may or may not think personally, there are far larger forces to be taken into account.' The compliments continued apace; noting Lord Woolf's sometime stormy relationship with former home secretary Michael Howard, the paper went on to describe him as: 'A liberal, a humanitarian, a reformer and a radical, Lord Woolf has inherited the key judicial role under a government and Lord Chancellor whose instincts in matters of penal reform are almost entirely opposed to his own.'Meanwhile, the Sunday Times (11 June) was less optimistic about the current state of criminal justice in the magistrates courts.

Describing his experiences as a criminal defence barrister, John Upton described the guile with which a client accused of theft played the system to his advantage: 'In a ploy common to many habitual criminals, Mr X wants to string the process out for as long as possible.'The elitism debate continued to feature in the Independent on Sunday (11 June), which quoted Peter Herbert, chairman of the Society of Black Lawyers: 'There is definitely a tendency for certain chambers and City firms to be reluctant to take black applicants - unless they are much better than their counterparts.

You can't just be black and average.'Telling all but revealing little in the Guardian (10 June) was solicitor Sue Ashtiany, of Morgan Cole's Reading office, who argued against public nudity.

She advised Mark Nisbet - who described himself as a non-confrontational nudist - that the best way to argue his case would be to start a dialogue with chief police officers.

She did not specify whether he should dress for the occasion, however.Jeremy Fleming