Presidents of the Law Society used to receive knighthoods. That all stopped, of course, once Margaret Thatcher realised that it had turned itself into a trade union. But you have to admire the shameless cynicism of whichever Sir Humphrey at the Ministry of Justice decided that former Law Society president Lucy Scott-Moncrieff should be awarded the CBE in the Queen?s New Year Honours list ?for services to legal aid? just as the legal aid budget takes another big hit.