Here we go again. A couple of years ago, it was ‘fat cat’ legal aid lawyers. Now our justice secretary is setting his sights on ‘irresponsible’ employment lawyers (see [2009] Gazette, 21 May, 1).

Claimant employment lawyers are not a long way removed from legal aid practitioners. We do vast amounts of pro bono work, particularly when, as now, thousands are losing their jobs. We are often the first port of call to give initial advice on employment rights.

In common with many practitioners I will not take on a claimant case where, as often happens, the compensation at stake is clearly quite modest. If a case is worth a couple of thousand pounds or less, it is almost never in the client’s interests to pay legal fees, as they will inevitably eat into the compensation entitlement to an unacceptable extent.

Costs do not usually follow the event in tribunal claims. There is no legal aid. If a client is insistent that he or she wants legal advice or representation, then typically the client will jump at the chance of a contingency fee arrangement.

No one ever seems to take a pop at commercial lawyers. Lawyers assisting claimants in tribunals are a soft target, as are legal aid practitioners. The justice secretary should turn his attention elsewhere.

Rod Dutton, Jacobs & Reeves, Poole