Your editorial, 'Insult to injury' (see [2008] Gazette, 28 March, 8), discloses an embarrassing fact that supports the Association of British Insurers' argument that claimants' legal fees are excessive.


By definition, the very fact that solicitors can afford to pay 'massive referral fees' means that there must be plenty of room for profit within the fixed fee regime.



The decision by the Law Society to allow the payment of referral fees was one of the worst it ever made, and this is another example of the damage that decision has caused to the profession's credibility.



Michael Loveridge, Loveridge Law, Clitheroe