Letters to the Editor

FINDING AN OASIS

I write with respect to your recent articles about the crisis in legal aid funding, and in particular your reference to 'advice deserts' (see [2003] Gazette, 23 January, 1).

I practise in an area recognised by the Legal Services Commission's (LSC) own assessment as having a high need for advice in the social categories of debt, housing, welfare benefits and employment.

The Community Legal Service's local strategic partnership recommended that specialist contracts in these areas of law should be placed as a matter of urgency.

Instead, solicitors are surrendering unprofitable contracts and the LSC is doing nothing to provide alternate service provision.

By contrast, the local citizens advice bureau (CAB), of which I am the chairman, is able to take on contracts to meet the identified demand, and had been led to believe that two would be agreed.

The commission now claims that it has no funding available for this essential work as the money cannot be transferred between the funds for the profit and not-for-profit sectors.

This jeopardises the CAB core funding and may, ultimately, lead to staff redundancies despite the high demand.

If the LSC ignores its own identified priorities, there will indeed be large areas of desert, and the most needy will be the ones who suffer.

Surely it cannot be impossible quickly to divert funds from cancelled contracts to the voluntary sector.

James Dillon, Boys & Maughan, Broadstairs, Kent

DEVIL IN THE DETAIL

Denis Cameron's article on dematerialisation points the way to the future (see [2003] Gazette, 13 February, 28).

However, it is astonishing the number of times that we have had to revert to pre-registration title deeds, documents and searches to interpret the registered title.

In particular, the greater detail of filed plans has created considerable confusion.

I am involved with the difficulties in trying to sell two properties of more than 500,000 each in Berkshire and Devon in semi-rural settings.

The new filed plans appear to show gaps between the property and the public highway, which not unnaturally have raised fears with the purchasers.

In the case of the Berkshire property, we have had to revert to a 1928 conveyance and in the case of the Devon property a 1900 conveyance to demonstrate the lack of gap between public highway and frontage.

My office can produce various examples of the inadequacy of the registration system and the fear is that greater detail will produce less certainty.

We welcome progress provided it is well-thought through.

However, the law of unintended consequences currently prevails.

Raymond Hayes, Bartons, Salcombe, Devon

FOR THE RECORD

As the e-conveyancing revolution gathers momentum, solicitors may welcome a timely reminder about the work of the British Records Association.

Many consider that old deeds are no longer useful, given compulsory registration of land on change of ownership.

However, they do provide vital information for local and family researchers.

If clients no longer require them, deeds can be deposited with local record offices across the UK.

Details about our deed listing and sorting services can be obtained by contacting our archivist, tel: 020 7833 0428.

Susan Snell, the British Records Association, London

PAYING THE PRICE

I was sad to read your recent article 'Executive stress' in relation to paralegals being 'cheap, keen, bright cannon-fodder' (see [2003] Gazette, 23 January, 24).

Most legal practice course (LPC) graduates who do not have training contracts fall into this category.

Doing a law degree and taking the responsibility of borrowing a vast amount of money for the LPC is no mean feat.

It takes much patience, determination, hard work, ambition and most of all guts, especially if you are from a less privileged background.

In return, how do we get repaid by the profession we wish to enter into? A lousy 10,000 to 12,000 salary with long hours, stress, boring work and no training contract in sight.

To add insult to injury, these firms expect the world from a potential trainee and regularly pay the Law Society minimum wage.

The firms guilty of this piece of narrow-mindedness will pay for it in the long term because paralegals will see the light and leave the profession - and get jobs in which they are valued as assets for the long term and not treated as cannon-fodder.

Name and address withheld