Letter to the President of the Law Society

Dear Lucy,

It was good to see you on television the other day once again sticking up for the poorer members of society – this time in terms of Legal Aid being withdrawn.  I just wanted to say many congratulations on becoming President of the Law Society.

You may not remember me  (Anno Domini gets us all doesn’t it ?!)  but I used to do my best in the mental health world initially for Springfield Patients Council and then for Consumer Forum, the user group at Hammersmith & Fulham MIND.  I must have referred people to you maybe via Steve at the Springfield Law Centre or through John Colquhoun at Penley’s in Dursley   – John and I shared a fine brother-in-law,  Andrew Ingram R.I.P. .  Adina Halpern may be a name you recall as well.

Anyway, you did/do valuable work in a field that few of your fellow solicitors would relish. I am so pleased that you have achieved such high status in your profession.

Funnily enough, back in April 1993,  I wrote a long letter to the Head of Professional Ethics at the Law Society (Redditch office) because an ex-Allen & Overy solicitor (now dead) , who was also my sole Trustee, had taken advantage of my own mental health problems to enrich himself . He even used some £12,000 of mine to pay one of his tax bills !  Because he was still registered with the Law Society and with the City of London Solicitors Company I thought the Law Society might at least strike him off their books. Sadly, my letter got passed to the Solicitors Complaints Bureau in Leamington Spa and came to naught.

I am sure that had you been in charge at the time this wouldn’t have happened !

All the best and many congratulations again,

Yours sincerely,

Jamie Summers