So, what have we learnt? First, the work is no longer so much fun. All my team spend a good deal of time turning people away rather than booking appointments for them, and then sorting out their problems. We try our best to point people in the direction of councillors, MPs or Citizens Advice Bureaux, but there is a limit to what can be achieved by such a referral. As the first port of call, we still appear to be the bad guys for saying that we cannot assist.

Second, the work is becoming increasingly unprofitable. Overheads such as rent, salaries, utilities and insurance are all going up; legal aid payments are going down. Something will have to give otherwise the inevitable will happen.

Third, one area of work, matrimonial, was a curious one. We thought that with the withdrawal of legal aid, at least some clients would pay modest fees to have us resolve their difficulties; however, in our experience this has not happened. Quite where all these clients have ended up is, no doubt, a fertile basis for a doctorate in social psychology.

Fourth, we continue to provide a service in the field of domestic violence, but such difficult and high pressure work is paid a very small fee and begs the question of whether or not we will be able to continue with this sort of work. A great deal of housing work currently remains in scope, but whether that will continue to be the case in the future is anybody’s guess.

Fifth, while a large swathe of disrepair cases are no longer funded, we have not seen a large bounce in conditional fee agreements.

So, what are the positives? Well, there are fewer firms out there doing legal aid work, which may be a positive of sorts for those left to do the work. I suspect that in a few years’ time, the number will have dwindled still further. Whether we will see consolidation of work in larger ‘factory-like’ firms, I am not so sure. Some of the bigger firms have been hit a lot harder by the cuts than have smaller firms with alternative sources of income.

So, has it been a complete disaster? My guess is that there will be a mass exodus away from legal aid. There will be fewer firms and, at that point, perhaps the worm will turn and the Ministry of Justice will realise that simply continuing to cut the legal aid budget year on year is not an appropriate use of resources in a modern democracy.

Remember, we had a legal aid system to die for; we had the best system in the world. Now we have a bunch of practitioners who are battle-hardened by cuts, by fights with the Legal Aid Agency and are looking, all the while, for an exit route. How sad.

Individuals, advisers, organisations and practitioners are invited to submit their accounts of the impact of the LASPO Act, particularly on people who are socially, economically or otherwise disadvantaged, for publication in this column. Submissions of up to 500 words will be published in full and, on request, anonymised. E-mail: vwilliams@lag.org.uk using the message title ‘Legal aid cuts impact statement’.