The government should be promoting the law as a public service, says Geoffrey Vos QC
The legal profession is deeply unpopular. Or so it seems to many lawyers in all areas of practice up and down the country. This unpopularity seems to have four aspects—unpopularity with consumer organisations, with the public, with the tabloid press and, worst of all, with the government.
It is useful to examine why this might be the case, what we can do about it, and whether the problem is a purely British one. It is true that some—but relatively few—lawyers earn large sums of money, but then so do actors, film stars, footballers, bankers and private equity partners. It is true that some—though very few—lawyers bring their profession into disrepute, but then so do some accountants, actuaries, architects and surveyors. It is true that some—though again, in absolute terms, few—complaints against lawyers have been badly handled in the past, but then so have complaints against many other professionals.
CONSUMER ORGANISATIONS
Consumer organisations seem to have rational grounds for their complaints about lawyers: they believe that lawyers’ services are too
