Letter: “Times are tough”

I read, with interest, Fiona McAllister’s article (Journal, June 2013, 44).

Whilst there was much to commend this article, the continuous championing of the recommended rates for trainees, including £19,400 for a second-year trainee (pre-employers’ national insurance contribution) is becoming a tad wearing.

Can I respectfully suggest consideration of the lower quartile figures for sole practitioners in the most recent Cost of Time Survey, which appears to reveal that 25% of sole traders earn less than the recommended second-year traineeship rate.

We are not dealing with a “race to the bottom”. Many legal firms are having to face up to the realities of the commercial landscape that they find themselves in.

For any readers offended by the terms of this letter, can I respectfully suggest that they “get a helmet” (ack. Dennis Leary).