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Dear Law Gazette,

I am a lay person and not a lawyer but to me, the lay person, I find it very difficult to determine the precise differences between all the different "types" of lawyer.

In 2013 I made complaint to the SRA that a "non-lawyer manager" of a specific Alternative Business Structure was in fact a well-established lawyer as shown on his webpage.

What astounded me was that Mr Townsend then responded to my MP's request for information on my behalf, that for the purposes of the ABS, the SRA would not consider him to be a "lawyer" as he did not belong to one of the "professional" associations.

This flummoxed me. For the person was stated to be a Director in Companies House Register, registered as "lawyer". Even today on his webpage it states "Lawyer" although his appointment as Director of the limited company where he was non-lawyer manager ceased at the end of January 2014.

At least now he is not both a "lawyer" and a "non-lawyer manager".

This is why I believe that the Ministry of Justice needs to sweep away all the differences between all lawyers, and just call everyone "lawyer" but to indicate what rights of audience they have and how long they have been accepted in their role.