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The country which gave the world Magna Carta now, somewhat shamefully, has a legal system in deep decline.

There can be little question, that in the absence of any real commitment by the government to the Rule of Law, democracy itself is eroded, which is why a fully resourced legal system is so critical to the health of society generally.

A better funded Rule of Law might have provided opportunities for the vulnerable to challenge the fire safety shortcomings of the Grenfell Tower, before the tragedy occurred. Equally, the inability of victims and their families to challenge the abnormally high death rates at the Gosport Hospital, has contributed to a real of sense of powerlessness by ordinary people.

Integrity not profit should drive the practice of law, and perhaps it is this core quality which some shabby MPs find so difficult to comprehend?

We use asymmetric knowledge ethically for the benefit of our clients, so law is not like selling baked beans, and justice should be about more than the mere dry processing of transactions within a reducing budget.

A former President of the Law Society introduced a bill into Parliament, which was the forerunner of legal aid, since decimated by successive governments.

The Law Society should be leading the profession to defend what is left of our justice system.