THE Legal Aid system has just weathered one of the worst storms in its near 60-year history.
A series of reforms spearheaded by ministers and the Legal Services Commission (LSC) threatened a piecemeal dismantling of the £2bn system.
But another sexagenarian - and the senior partner at Merseyside's biggest legal aid firm - was at the centre of the fight for access to justice.
Jackson & Canter's Andrew Holroyd has just returned to the city centre firm after a year away as the President of the Law Society of England and Wales.
The office didn't just give him a front-row seat, but catapulted him into the ring.
Sat in the boardroom overlooking Church Street, he says: "We battled hard and then did a sensible settlement.
"It's changed from a war situation to a collaborative approach to Legal Aid."
The impassioned defence mounted by Holroyd and the Law Society included starting judicial review proceedings into the Government's proposals and legal action against the LSC. At least one gritted-teeth letter to Mr Holroyd from LSC chief executive Carolyn Regan can still be found online.
"We went through the worst times of Legal Aid.
"But now we collaborate with the LSC," he says of the Government quango that administers Legal Aid.
The delivery of the radical reforms suggested by Lord Carter's review of Legal Aid - including a new contract for civil legal aid practitioners - was threatening to erode access to justice, Andrew says.
He embarked on a tour of England and Wales with the Law Society under the banner of their "What Price Justice?" campaign.
And the campaign appeared to have paid off when, in April, the society announced a £55m settlement for civil legal aid practitioners and that it was dropping the judicial review.
"What I discovered in my year was that the whole profession - we all share a passion for access to justice. It's one thing to have Magna Carta and the rights to justice enshrined in the law, but if someone can't take the case to court - if there's no access to justice, there is no justice."
During his presidency, Andrew, 60, was interviewed on Syrian TV to discuss Iraqis who had been imprisoned by the British during the invasion and occupation.
The immigration specialist continued: "I said I was proud to be part of a society where Iraqi citizens who alleged that they had been mistreated by agents of our state were able to bring actions against the British Government and receive compensation.
"I think it's a hallmark of a civilised society that was done through Legal Aid."
Last month, the MoD agreed to pay almost £3m in compensation to the nine Iraqi men and to the relatives of another man beaten to death by British soldiers.
Woolton-based Andrew added: "If you are accused of a crime, you have Legal Aid if you can't fend for yourself. That's not something we should take for granted.
"It's part of the duty of the Law Society to ensure that access to justice is maintained and not threatened."
And he says there remain "real, considerable" threats to Legal Aid - lawyers are paid little more than what they were 10 years ago and the overall budget has remained static in flat cash terms for the past five years.
But a new system of collabora-tion with the LSC - rather than them imposing "what they believe is right" - is, Andrew says, "the major achievement of my year".
And that is despite crossing four continents, seeing the number of English and Welsh lawyers in the Middle East double, and delivering a petition to Downing Street backing Pakistan's solicitors in their fight against President Pervez Mushar-raf's crackdown in the judiciary.
CV: Andrew Holroyd
1974 - Qualified as a solicitor
1975 - Joined Jackson & Canter
1977 - Made a partner at Jackson & Canter
1984 - Joins Liverpool Law Society
1996 - Elected president Liverpool Law Society
2001 - Becomes chair of the society's training committee
2003 - Made chair of the standards board; also made an OBE for services to publicly funded legal work in Liverpool
2005 - Elected deputy vice president of the Law Society
2007/8 - President of the Law Society
2008 - Made honorary fellow of Liverpool John Moores University
* Andrew admits he never intended to get emroiled in Law Society affairs
AFTER stepping down as president of the Law Society, Andrew Holroyd admits he never intended to become one of its activists.
"I got involved because of the Toxteth riots," he says.
Jackson & Canter had been the first law firm to set up outside of the city centre in 1971, four years prior to him joining.
While the 1981 riots saw the firm burnt out of their offices on Princes Street - which they still run - they also saw the city's Bishops in need of a legal mind.
Andrew continues: "The Bishops wanted to set up a law centre in Liverpool 8 - the city's Law Society didn't know what to make of that.
"People asked 'Who knows about Toxteth politics and the black community?' and the Law Society came to me."
He finally joined the Liverpool branch in 1984, becoming its president in 1993 and in 1996 they elected him to the national body's council as the Merseyside and district representative, a position he still holds.
His year at the top saw him appear in The Times' Law 100 - not in the top 10, but the alphabetised following 90, which he shared with law lords, the solicitor general and attorney general.
"The last thing I ever thought when I got into the practice was that I would get involved in Law Society affairs.
"But having got into it I found I quite enjoyed it and I was quite effective at committees. I could get things done."
Before taking up the presidency, Andrew chaired the training committee and the rule-making standards board. With the latter he was instrumental in drawing up the new solicitors rule book, recently adopted by the Solicitors Regulation Authority as a mantra of good practise.
"The rules book needed slimming and to move towards principle-led regulation.
"I'm committed to reform," he adds, "looking forward rather than looking back.
"I rather like change. I'm not one of those people who thinks change is a problem."