The scarcity of skilled professional manpower in developing nations has given rise, of necessity, to a formidable array of para-professional personnel. Khare's description of the touts of Lucknow and the ‘sea-lawyers’ of Gopalpur serves as a useful starting point for discussion in this vastly important but little-treated subject. From a lawyer's point of view, most of the crucial questions are not answered here. How much actual legal business, in terms of letter-writing, negotiations and simple giving of advice, is in fact carried out in the village by the para-legal individuals described? To what extent are their opinions, and ways of operating, similar? Do they, by virtue of pervasive and agreed practice, in fact ‘make’ law? Are they possibly, being closer to the people, more acceptable to the people, more efficient than ordinary lawyers, and cheaper?