LETTERS
Professional closed shops
Sir: As the guilty author of the occasional 'clearly inspired' article about the Spanish practices of the learned professions (although not, I am happy to say, in the pages of The Spectator) I feel obliged to respond to Lord Hailsham's spirited de- fence in last week's issue.
'No professions', he writes, 'are more competitive, in their own way than barris- ters, doctors, dentists, solicitors, architects or surveyors.' He does not, however, elaborate on what that way may be. So may I offer an example?
Some years ago I was approached by a surveyor. A member of his craft, he told me. had been recently advising a client in Edinburgh. The Lord Justice Clerk, pres- iding, had expressed grave dismay at the spectacle of the plaintiff being represented before him by a mere surveyor. And the Government (which happened to be a Labour government), my surveyor told me, was proposing to legislate to prevent a repetition of this shocking incident. Yet he argued — a surveyor was liable to be better qualified than a barrister to assist his client in a matter of this kind, quite apart from being a great deal cheaper.
I thought he had a point. I spoke out against the order which the Government duly tabled in Parliament. The minister replying said that, had he not known me better, he might have thought I was im- plying that the Lord Justice Clerk was engaged in feathering the nest of his own profession. I admitted at once that that was indeed my suggestion. Nevertheless the order was carried into law: the Tory 'shadow' law officers had, after all, assured me that, for once, the Government had got it right.
'It is', adds Lord Hailsham, 'surely obvious . . . that . . . the professions I have mentioned must retain relatively complete control of the . . . qualifications for entry.' Mr Ron Todd must be proud of him. But then I have always suspected that the Bar is the smartest closed shop left. Incidentally, my dictionary defines 'in- spiration' as something coming down from heaven. Lord Hailsham, however, seems to have another source in mind.
Jock Bruce-Gardyne
13 Kelso Place, London W8
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