The government has no money.

Legal aid is under threat. The Law Society strategy for savings takes a broader view of the legal system than government is capable of doing because of departmental and executive agency demarcations.

As a result, arms of the state go on without the focus on prioritisation of spending which economic reality imposes on those of us in private practice.

Take, for example, the Crown Prosecution Service, where the director, following a nationwide tour of branch offices, has now embarked on visits to Crown courts accompanied by fellow QC Alison Levitt.

One might have expected that two highly paid lawyers could have taken a court or acted as duty prosecutor for the day. Nothing could have better informed them about whether the constant changes the director introduced are working.

It might also have helped the lower ranks to get the work done.

Unfortunately, the idea that senior civil servants are worth lots of money simply by being very important, and justify their time by telling less important people what to do, can only perpetuate the problem of misdirected financial management.

John O’Donnell, Senior partner, odonnells Solicitors, Preston