On becoming Law Society president I resolved that the commercial success of all English and Welsh law firms should be recognised and applauded.

Legal services are more than just a British success story – they are an essential part of the UK economy. If the former fact is sometimes acknowledged, maybe grudgingly, the latter is often ignored – but it is no less of an iron-clad fact.

In 2008, professional services in the UK contributed more to GDP (some 8%) than any other sector of the economy – more even than financial services upon whose shrinking shoulders, we are told, the nation’s prosperity rests. This is perhaps unsurprising given that professional services constitute the largest sector as a whole, employing 11.5% of the UK’s workforce. The legal sector comprises a healthy proportion of that figure and, on the basis of Law Society estimates, contributes nearly 2% of GDP based on fees paid alone.

Yet it is the indirect contribution of the legal sector that is arguably far greater – by facilitating deals and transactions, ensuring that the wheels of commerce turn and attracting business to the UK by virtue of its influence and status as the world’s leading legal centre. Overall, firms in England and Wales that are active in the international market between them generate invisible earnings in excess of £2.5bn each year. The work of the many excellent lawyers employed within large commercial organisations indirectly generates even more.

If we accept that legal services are integral to the UK economy, we must also accept that the legal profession of England and Wales punches above its weight in the world. England and Wales possesses a completely disproportionate share of top law firms relative to its size, largely as a consequence of the considerable influence of English law. England and Wales remains a global centre of dispute resolution proceedings due to the law’s clarity and predictability. In addition, the volume of contracts drafted in the language of English law, but where none of the contracting parties are based in England and Wales, continues to grow. There are not many sectors with the export power of English law, and so, while we do not ask for special treatment, as world leaders in our field we should at least demand due recognition.

However strong our status, maintaining that strength is by no means assured. No sector is immune from economic conditions, and the nature of legal business means that the impact of the recession on other commercial sectors is easily passed on to us. Our position at the pinnacle of the profession is predicated on two things – our willingness and ability to do business across the globe, and the global attractiveness of the UK as a business destination.

To maintain this position, firms in England and Wales require a benign business environment, a proportionate regulatory system, and a willingness within government to support a competitive professional services sector and to cater to its requirements.

The government has to some extent woken up to this fact over the past two years. The chancellor’s snappily titled Professional Services Global Competitiveness Group, ably chaired by the City’s own Sir Michael Snyder, produced a compelling report in March that will hopefully lay the foundation for a permanent point of reference between government and professional services in future years.

However, maintaining a competitive environment requires an ability on the part of our politicians to resist the siren song of short-term political expediency in favour of clear-sighted, long-term planning. This means not only creating an attractive place to do business, but also an appealing place to live and to work. This raises questions around infrastructure as well as regulation and taxation. Skills, education and health also play a major part in securing the competitiveness of any society.

Government has to have the proper awareness to pursue the correct course, but equally professional services bodies have a purpose to inform its judgement. Unlike many professional bodies the Law Society is already a powerful voice within government. Much of the Society’s work on behalf of the profession goes unheard by those whom it is designed to benefit – but that makes it no less effective.

The Society’s recent work on the new points-based system (PBS) for immigration is an excellent case in point. In recognition of the serious reservations and concerns expressed by some law firms about its potential impact, the Society’s extensive lobbying secured significant improvements to the guidance issued by the UK Border Agency on the implementation of the PBS.

To make sure that firms in England and Wales were able to recruit the best talent internationally and develop networks and business opportunities across all the jurisdictions in which they operate, the Society went one step further. It successfully applied to become an overarching sponsor body for ‘tier 5’ migrants under the new scheme. This means that the Society can facilitate exchanges, internships and secondments for the legal profession, in the process becoming a model for other parts of the financial and professional services sectors eager to offer a similar service to their members.

Over the coming months the Society will seek to collaborate more closely with other professional bodies to secure a competitive environment that allows law firms to retain their primacy of position in the international market. However, there is much to deal with in our own backyard to maintain our international reputation.

There is too much doubt abroad (sometimes self-serving but often quite genuine) about the independence of the profession. The spectre of alternative business structures is used to spook those who fear that external investment must threaten independence. This presents twin challenges for regulators – to create a robust licensing system and to ensure that regulation remains free of undue government influence.

We must also be wary of the imposition of draconian aspects to otherwise benign legislative provisions in the name of combating terrorism, while maintaining our resolute stance against further restrictions – intended or otherwise – of access to justice in England and Wales. We must be in no doubt that we are watched from near and afar for any reduction in a perceived stable and attractive working and social environment, and government must know it too. The competitiveness of one of the country’s most successful sectors depends on it.

Robert Heslett is president of the Law Society