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Well said Stephen Larcombe. Yes, there is a dearth of money available for all kinds of services, and we are not asking - I believe - for a fortune in terms of spending to ensure that justice has its day. What we would like is for some sort of sea-change to occur so that our 'assymetric knowledge' (kudos on the wording, Stephen!) is valued. That way, maybe those requiring our services would consider that we give value for money rather than the current media-driven hype that we bleed people dry at a time when they can least afford it in terms of both money and sanity.

If the general public appreciated that we do give them our knowledge, and it is not something read off the back of a tin of beans, and that the knowledge we give them provides them with the tools to come to a solution, be it with regards to claiming against a tortfeasor, or getting access to their children, or going up against Big Brother, then surely they would not object to paying a decent sum for that knowledge and solution?

We have been devalued as a profession slowly and surely over the last thirty years or more. It is time that we regain that value. Government funding is needed, yes, but hand in hand with that is the need to convince the general public that our service is worth having and worth paying for, so that the government funding is spent where it is sorely needed.