That a tendency towards self-advertisement is a most serious defect in the character of a solicitor has recently been rather forcibly brought home to me.

An article of mine on a religious subject appeared in the May issue of our parish magazine. The editor, approving its contents, but a little doubtful as to its title, made a very slight alteration, and appended the words ‘A Lawyer’ to my original ‘by Keith Fagan’.

He did this, no doubt, because I had sought to argue my point as it might have been argued in a court of law. I was surprised, and must confess, irritated, when the first comment by two of my readers was to the effect that the description of the author might have contravened the rules of professional conduct.

We certainly do not want solicitors advertising themselves as if they were some new brand of detergent, but this ‘no touting’ rule has become such a fetish with the profession that the observance of it is being carried to quite ridiculous lengths.

We must have moderation in all things. As I have already said, we do not want to stoop to the more blatant forms of advertisement indulged in by some concerns, but let us exercise a little common sense and tolerance in allowing solicitors to use their names where it is obvious that there would be no resulting loss of dignity or prestige to the profession as a whole.

Keith Fagan, Sevenoaks

Law Society’s Gazette, 21 July 1982

Young solicitors

Fear and the law

One cold winter’s night, wind and rain were beating insistently against the windowpane of my bed-sitting-room which looked across a vast expanse of timeless weathered oaks. As I drowsily scanned the pages, the room was shaken by the rumblings of thunder and a flash of lightning threw the room into stark relief. It was then that my eyes caught sight of the phrase gerit caput lupinem ‘he bears the head of a wolf’.

I read on. It was a note on outlawry. The punishment of outlawry was first instituted in the time of Alfred the Great (pictured) and was only abolished at the beginning of the 19th century. Any person who refused to appear in court could be declared an outlaw which resulted in his property being forfeited and the loss of all civil rights.

As solicitors are officers of the court a little of this fear (subconscious in most cases) is transferred and a visit to a solicitor’s office is avoided for fear that when a problem is discussed the solicitor might immediately telephone the police and have the client locked away for some crime he has unwittingly committed. It is a problem that may only be solved by the profession; perhaps by changing the image of the solicitor from one of being an officer of the supreme court to that of a professional adviser.