So the Civil Justice Council suggests that one way of dealing with the problems caused to the administration of civil justice by untutored litigants in person is for practitioners to sell them small amounts of legal advice, and gives as an example a firm that charges £7 for 5 minutes.

I wonder how practical this will be after the Court of Appeal judgment in Padden v Bevan Ashford. In that case solicitors were warned they were under a positive duty to advise that a short consultation would be inappropriate in cases where further investigation was indicated, which I should have thought would cover the vast majority of contentious matters.

Phil Ambrose, solicitor, Kingston upon Thames