Thanks largely to the establishment of his disaster practice, Rodger Pannone is an unusually high-profile lawyer -- the kind more familiar in the US than the UK.

Despite its success, the work has been personally harrowing and the perception that he was making money out of other people's grief has caused Mr Pannone some anxiety.

He has recently redirected his energies towards Europe and has created Pannone de Backer, Europe's first integrated international law firm.Although Mr Pannone has had a great deal of publicity over the last ten years, yet he is concerned not to appear to blow his own trumpet in the Gazette.

His success must lie in his ability to give to the subject in hand enormous commitment and attention.

The Vice-President requested that Mr Pannone take on the responsibility for the Society's 1990 Glasgow conference.

He tackled the request like 'Henry the Green Engine' pulling the express train.

He has evidently infected the committee and the staff with his seemingly boundless energies and enthusiasm.

Inspired by his considerable experience of conferences world-wide -- and armed with bro chures from such as the American Trial Lawyers Convention -- he is getting the Glasgow show on the road in a big way.Conference programme Producing a programme which will offer something to everyone is fraught with difficulty.

Feathers are easily ruffled.

Mr Pannone agrees that any conference is of necessity a compromise.

'We are talking about a long weekend, four days, with spouses and children invited.

There has to be a balance between the working sessions and the entertainment, a little bit of general interest for everyone, which I hope we will get in the keynote speeches, and more substantive input in the sessions.

It's going to be hard work but it's also going to be great fun'.

The committee is bending over backwards to attract younger members of the profession.

Against the odds they have come round to Mr Pannone's suggestion that there should be a creche.

'How can you expect solicitors with young families to come if there is nothing organised for the children?' Younger solicitors, catagorised as those under 36, will not have to pay the registration fee.

Gone are the days when speakers arrived in their limousines to be whisked off into hiding in a hospitality room, there to be entertained by the stalwarts of local law societies.

'All the Council members will, I hope, be on parade all the time.

I'm threatening them with electronic tagging! The speakers will stay around so that any delegate can buttonhole them.

That's part of the deal.

They will get their hospitality from everyone there, as will first-timers who will wear a bright ribbon.

It's very naff but I don't care!'The programme is very nearly finalised.

Each day will kick off with a keynote address.

The speakers will include the Lord Chancellor, a judge of the European Court of Justice, and Lord Francis Tombs, chairman of Rolls-Royce.

A plenary session fills the rest of the mornings.

In the afternoons there will be some difficult choices between alternative sessions.Opportunities in Europe are, or should, be high on everyone's agenda.

Mr Pannone is hoping for a provocative talk, probably from Judge Edward, on the operation of the European Court.

Many of the court's members are known to be unimpressed by our precedent-based law and our lack of a written constitution.

'Their view is that with a gladiatorial system the best lawyer wins at the expense of the best argument and sometimes even at the expense of the truth.

There is a tendency for lawyers in this country to be arrogant about what they regard as the best legal system but we are the only European country with a common law system and it will not surprise me at all if in due course it comes under challenge.' The session on international opportunities will focus on the development of multi-national practices with particular attention to smaller firm strategy, among other things.

'Solicitors should be leading the way in educating their clients, many of whom depend upon their activities in Europe, about the European market.

More and more we are going to be involved in litigation with people whose base is not in this country.

How do we deal with that? In which country should the litigation be conducted? How are judgments enforced? What contacts should we be developing with European law firms? How does the 20-partner provincial practice decide which areas to target? These are the sort of practical questions which the sessions will address.'Rodger Pannone is evidently a believer in behind the scenes stage-management -- to the extent that the key speakers will be expected to give outlines of their speeches to the chairman of their sessions six weeks before the conference.

Rodger Pannone will then read through everything himself before getting together with the chairmen to iron out any difficulties.

'A good seminar strikes a balance between information, stimulation and participation.

We have strong chairmen who will make sure that participation gets its fair share'.A new development this year is the extent of input from Law Society staff, both in the opening session on the role of the Law Society in the 1990s, and in other sessions.

The aim is to ensure that the profession appreciates the very considerable extent to which it is led from Chancery Lane.

The Society is inevitably at the forefront of the many changes facing solicitors.

The conference programme tackles just about all the current concerns of solicitors in whatever sized practice.

And in a sense, the hidden agenda throughout is the usefulness of the Society in encouraging self-help.

There are to be sessions on recruitment and training, and managing for success.

'Just as an example, I think that we shall see some of the smaller firms combining their resources to meet the challenge of the larger practices who can afford, say, a university professor for continuing education or a tax consultant or whatever it may be.

Ten firms together could employ such a person as a consultant to all ten.

In this and in all sorts of ways the role of the Law Society is becoming more and more significant'.When it comes to things like business management, are people ever reluctant to give away their secrets? 'By and large my own experience is that publicity leads to clients and that lecturing is actually quite a rich source of instruction.

Most people welcome an invitation to speak and if they have plans which are sensitive, obviously they will keep quiet about them'.Many people see English lawyers becoming more like their American counterparts -- inasmuch as there is an increasing involvement in and knowledge of their clients' affairs.

Once inside a business it is easy, and sometimes necessary, to identify with its aims and needs.

But there are times when lawyers must stand by their independence, even if it means unwelcome advice and the consequent criticism that they are too negative.

'Clients want to know what they can do, not what they can't.

A potential problem for corporate lawyers in particular, is maintaining the balance between their independence and their identification with their clients' objectives'.

This is the sort of issue which will be covered in the session on quality control, as will the fairly constant re-structuring of professional standards to meet the variety of changes facing the profession.

'The maintenance of high professional standards and independence is the edge that we have over our competitors.

We must stand up and sell ourselves and we must not allow the profession to be dragged down to the level of the market place where cost and competition are more important than the quality of the service that we can offer'.

Quality control, civil litigation, criminal appeals, rights of audience, divorce law -- it is all there.

It is going to be a busy four days.

It is essentially a serious occasion with the fun on the side.Sponsorship And it all costs money.

Another departure from tradition is that the Society has sought sponsorship with a view to reducing the cost to delegates.

'We have had to deal with the element of people who say that we are prostituting ourselves etc, etc but they are wrong.

We are taking it slowly bec ause, after all, we are amateurs at the game but sponsorship of one or two events is a great start'.

Wang have put up £50,000 for the Highland ball (so get practising on those long fogotten reels).

Rodger Pannone's parting shot is that the Glasgow conference will be optimistic but hard-hitting.' People should be made to feel a bit frightened just as anyone who does not come should feel that they are missing something!' They will be missing the chance to buy fresh langoustines and smoked salmon from the local fisheries.

That is not to mention the Scots malt whisky tasting and the Scottish Opera's special performance of Tosca.

The last two events apparently clash, or partly clash, so there will be some interesting entries at the beginning of act two! Mr Pannone looks forward to the occasion, the whisky, the opera and the work, with evident relish.

His brief is to jazz the thing up.

The only way to judge the result is to go.