Sir: Lord Bruce-Gardyne (Letters, 2 April) seems to think that
anyone should be able to appear as an advocate in court. He complains that, for example, a surveyor may not. Unwittingly, he neatly illustrates the case for the professions. How can a surveyor best serve the client involved in litigation? As an advocate, who may only ask questions and make submis- sions on the basis of evidence given by others and for whom there may well lurk legal difficulties of which (until disaster strikes) he is completely unaware? Or, as a witness upon whose expert evidence the court may rely? Lord Bruce-Gardyne selects the Bar to make some point about a lack of competi- tiveness in the professions. He could hard- ly have chosen a worse example. Each barrister is in competition with every other barrister, including members of his own chambers. A barrister's success depends entirely upon his own ability and exertions. To get work he must impress solicitors who, unlike most lay clients, are in a position to make an informed choice. Every brief may be the last and, if it is, there is no claim for unfair dismissal or redundancy payment. The structure of the Bar is so conducive to competition that it might have been invented by a Thatcherite Think Tank. Let lawyers stick to the law, surveyors to surveying, and Lord Bruce-Gardyne to financial journalism.
Charles Wide
2 Crown Office Row, Temple, London EC4
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