I have not read the full survey by the Legal Services Consumer Panel (see [2011] Gazette, 23 June, 3), nor do I know what the actual question was.

We do know the answer – the public believe that only 47% of lawyers are trusted to tell the truth. Do we take this to mean that lawyers lie 53% of the time, or that 53 out of every 100 lawyers lie all the time?

Do doctors deliberately tell untruths 15% of the time or do they simply not know what is wrong with you? Do teachers deliberately mislead 29% of the time, or on one occasion which 29% of the people asked actually found out about?

If the question was generally to find out about trustworthiness then it is a useless one. Would you trust a lawyer to diagnose your haemorrhoids, let alone prescribe for them?

Would you trust anyone other than a teacher to teach your children? Would you trust a doctor or teacher to act for you in the magistrates’ court even if you could find one willing to act for less than cost?

I suspect that many members of the public do not understand that the lawyer on the other side is presenting his client’s case, which necessarily differs from that of the interviewee.

It does not mean that the lawyer is lying; only that his client is.

Is it really a surprise that doctors and teachers, who are normally not paid directly by the public, rank higher than lawyers? If money has to be spent on surveys let us have one which is of some use.

Incidentally, if lawyers were third on the list I would like to know where the clergy came.

Richard Engel, Max 7ngel & Co, Northampton