Law Society’s Gazette, November 1959

Mr Barrington Myers wrote to the Gazette in October 1959 asking how to explain the work of a solicitor to a six-year-old. See [2009] Gazette, 1 October, 31.

…may I suggest that he says to the little inquisitor: "My dear, the law is an ass, and a solicitor is the man who drives it along the road"!R W Abercromby, Liverpool 2

I have recently had great difficulty in giving a satisfactory explanation to a Taxing Master aged nearly sixty as to what work is done by a solicitor. Can any member please suggest a handy definition which might satisfy such a person?David S Morris, London NW10

The letter below was written in reply to a September 1959 article saying that solicitors were hidebound and unable to enjoy themselves. See [2009] Gazette, 3 September, 31.

Can Lawyers be Human Too?(I write to) appeal to the as yet undessicated section of the profession for action in resisting the scourge of respectability (and) strongly advocate the setting up by The Law Society of a Levity Bureau, which would be staffed by non-lawyers… Its object would be to advise solicitors upon methods by which, having due regard to the maintenance of law and order and the upholding of the dignity of the profession as a whole, they might nevertheless unwind the professional spring out of office hours.

Meanwhile, we might all experiment in small ways. On the way to the office this morning… I whistled in the street and turned to admire passing females (making sure, however, that I did not do both at the same time for obvious reasons). Others may like to give examples of their own experiments.

One last thought: could not an official approach be made to the Revenue to have solicitors’ gambling debts allowed for tax?

M D Snoxall, Woldingham