To take on cases the magnitude of which has never been seen before in British industrial legal history does mean that firms of solicitors must have enough resources at their disposal to cope efficiently with the workload.

Not every case is straightforward where liability is accepted as the "norm," some miners could have had as many as seven different employers, some lawyers do not have the industrial experience and know-how to deal with the more complicated cases.

Some firms of lawyers have been the trade union solicitors for a number of years and, therefore, have the expertise of the trade union to rely on as well, that involves maintenance of up-to-date and well-catalogued records, branch records etc.

While they appear full of self-righteous indignation regarding "poor disadvantaged miners", when it comes to saving miners' jobs they are notoriously silent, as they are on the question of clean coal technology and the nation's lack of a diverse, well-balanced energy policy. They do not seem to have much to say about miners who have been turned down for compensation or the inadequacies of the schemes either.

In fact, the silence becomes deafening when it comes to supporting "sick and tired miners" and their quest for justice over the continuous robbery of the miners' pension scheme that really does beggar belief.

From: John Wilson, Wilsons Solicitors, Station Road, Horsforth, Leeds.

YOUR correspondent Mr Palmer (Yorkshire Post, December 23) refers to the solicitors who have been struck off for ripping off the retired miners as "morons". I suspect with their millions in the bank now they would regard that as a classic case of "sticks and stones".

However, Mr Palmer's comments make a refreshing change and are perhaps not too far from the truth after all. In all my years acting for people who have a problem with a solicitor, I have often observed how the caricature in the press of a greedy
grasping profession is wide of the mark. Far more of the things that go wrong are down to stupidity than anything worse. A stupidity that comes from being in a cosseted profession that has had it too good for too long. Too many nice sweet jars and not enough fingers.

A few years ago there was a thing inventedcalled "institutional racism", seemingly defined as a situation where no individual is but all of them collectively are. On that basis, it seems to me that my profession might be fairly categorised, using Mr Palmer's term, as "institutionally moronic". Lots of fine chaps binding themselves together and coming out with a far from fine result.

Thus it is that the scandal of the miners' compensation ripoffs is not very much to do with the individual solicitors concerned, however contemptible they may be and however much the Law Society would like you to think so. It is far more to do with lack of leadership and vision from the Law Society itself which, at the time, was encouraging the solicitors concerned down this very same path.

Some of us resisted, and are now delighted to be vindicated. But let us put the blame where it really lies and not be diverted by the Law Society PR machine.


Democracy dances off into the distance

From: F Spencer, Birchwood Mount, Leeds.

THE recent problems for the voters in BBC1's Strictly Come Dancing competition could be very easily solved by putting Gordon Brown & Co in charge of the programme. Brown could then promise the voters a vote but then not allow them to have one, as is the case of the Lisbon Treaty. The EU could also be running "Strictly" and then if the voters did not vote the correct way, make them vote again until they did.

Problem solved!