I am afraid that John Lymbury's letter which appeared in The Lawyer 27 March evades the real issues. It is precisely because it is "an official Group" that the Sole Practitioners Group cannot accept solicitors who are not members of the Law Society.
It is also because it has chosen to be entirely dependent on grant aid from the Law Society for its source of finance that, as Mr Lymbury admits, it finds itself in financial difficulties.
Surely it is unrealistic to expect the Law Society to finance areas where there are possibilities of conflict between the group and itself. For example there was a suggestion that an independent actuary might examine the accounts of the Solicitors Indemnity Fund so as to determine whether the present weighting is just and equitable. Would they pay for this?
If the group is to become a mutual admiration society for members of the Law Society then it will not serve the purpose for which it was originally intended.
Leslie Dubow
Solicitors Property Group
Cuffley EN6 4HE.
