I applaud David Enright’s attempt to define justice with a formula. He could be on to something. Could there be a formula to calculate profitability (P) in a bank’s mortgage lending? Take a hypothetical, completely made-up bank (call it BHSC). Include total funds lent (M); maybe the size of BHSC’s panel (B); and the number of solicitors (S) outside the panel who advise their client to switch to an alternative lender, hence:P = MS²÷B

Conveyancers will observe the inverse relationship between disgruntled solicitors and a restricted panel – one goes up when the other goes down. Interestingly, S too can be calculated by dividing ‘V’ by ‘X’, where V = incidences of B requiring the borrowers’ solicitor to speak to borrowers to verify identity (having already copied passports and so on); and X = where the solicitor verifies identity in complete silence. Naturally, where X = zero, S will be infinitely large. So a combination of a small conveyancing panel and ludicrous demands will ultimately wipe out the hypothetical bank’s mortgage profitability. I hope my conveyancing colleagues draw some value from this.

Matthew Shiels, Solicitor, Kenilworth, Warwickshire