A recent page-one article states that judges say that solicitors use 'fee-earners of too senior a grade' (see [2005] Gazette, 1 December, 1).

Perhaps it should be pointed out that senior-grade solicitors do the job much quicker than inexperienced lower-grade solicitors, and accordingly the costs nearly always turn out to be identical.


Furthermore, senior-grade solicitors can assist counsel in a more proactive and beneficial way than lower-grade solicitors who leave counsel to do everything. This not only reduces counsel's fees, but also is appreciably more beneficial to clients.


Richard Bell, Haworth Holt Bell, Altrincham, Cheshire