One can only sympathise with your correspondent - the wife of a provincial conveyancing/ probate solicitor (see [2004] Gazette, 9 December, 14) - who eloquently expressed the frustrations felt by her hard- pressed husband in trying to make a living out of conveyancing. I know an experienced solicitor whose circumstances are almost identical to those described.


However, I do not think that the Law Society is to blame for the current fee structure. Downward pressure on fees as well as prices generally are just one feature of our market economy. The benefits of the free market are obvious, but so are its limitations.


The real problem would appear to be one of values. Market forces are in themselves value free. They have no eyes so they cannot see the bigger picture. It is the values that hold sway in the community that determine how these forces impact on the work of the professions.


The material consumer-led values we find in our culture are corrosive. In the longer term, they will tend to stifle creativity and enterprise, and in the professional sector cause our services to be valued for less than their intrinsic worth.


We live in what seems like a global bazaar where people are always looking for better deals. In this climate, it is not easy to factor a service delivered by a highly regulated profession whose work demands a high level of skill, honesty and care into a reasonable price if there is an unregulated supplier who will settle for less.


Real change can only come when values begin to change and refine.


But in the meantime, and for the foreseeable future, any further changes in work patterns, and of course expectations of reward, will be driven mainly by market conditions and further advances in technology.



Andrew Bell, Beresfords, Doncaster