I am sympathetic to the plight of solicitors working with private fee paying clients who charge the relatively modest fees of £150 per hour. However, I suggest that the work of administering affidavits or statutory declarations (see [2006] Gazette, 30 November, 17) be passed to solicitors, such as myself, who do legal aid work, and to whom the high rates such work would pay would represent a likely salary increase owing to the increased revenue it would bring to our firms, compared with the rather more modest fees we are paid for Legal Services Commission franchised work.


Alister Cryan, London