I write with reference to Peter Williamson’s article ‘Rehearsing for the Big Bang’ on the advent of alternative business structures (see [2008] Gazette, 9 October, 10).

I remember the government’s decision some years ago to have ‘light-touch’ regulation of the financial sector. We are all now bearing the cost of this with the partial nationalisation of the clearing banks following their failure to plan for their ‘black swan’ moment.

Similarly, the loss of prestige and influence following the dismantling of the Law Society’s role of ‘overlord’ in the provision of mainstream legal services – coupled with the creation of legal disciplinary partnerships and so on next year – will, I fear, have the same unhappy outcome.

The government appears indifferent to the fact that solicitors are fundamentally different from other professionals. Indeed, I see from time to time the best interests of members of the public being subordinated to the need by other advisers to generate fees.

The so-called ‘Big Bang’ in legal services, the model for which has not been followed in other jurisdictions such as the US, has created real potential for a toxic mix of competing interests. It seems to me tragic that a once pre-eminent profession, which had evolved over many years, has allowed itself to be put into this position.

S J Larcombe, Limbach Banham, Royston, Herts