Over 40 years ago I had a letter – ‘A Courtesy Title for Solicitors’ – published in the Gazette. I suggested that our branch of the profession should, like doctors and some other professions, have a courtesy title, which in our case should be ‘Attorney’. The proposal attracted some attention but was not at that stage followed up.
I was interested to read Jerry Pearlman’s letter. I entirely agree with his sentiments, although I still think that we should have our own unique courtesy title of ‘Attorney’.
The office of attorney was confirmed by the Statute of Merton in 1235 and is considerably older than that of the ‘common solicitor’. It would operate as a mode of instant identification, and as members of an ancient and honourable profession it is a title we should be proud to assume.
I hope that – having waited for 40 years – we can now see some action to carry things forward on the above basis.
Roger Street, Christchurch, Dorset
