Few lawyers can name the eight official branches of the legal profession – solicitor, barrister, legal executive, licensed conveyancer, trademark attorney, patent agent, notary and costs lawyer/draftsman – but juggling their different demands and needs is one of the many tasks facing the Legal Services Board.

Chief executive Chris Kenny was clear last week, when speaking at the Association of Law Costs Draftsmen’s annual conference, that the board realises there is more to the profession than solicitors and barristers. The proof will be in the way the LSB levies its costs on each professional body, an issue of great concern to all.

More generally, Kenny said all the right things – the LSB appreciates that the consumer interest and public interest are not always the same thing. Greater competition among providers should not be an end in itself, but a driver for innovation. And good regulation need not be the most goldplated, expensive regulation.

Only next year, when the LSB assumes all of its powers, will we see these good intentions put into action. But it is not all about the board – there is a burden on the profession to ensure the relationship works. Chris Kenny may have said the LSB is there to help, and not wield a big stick, but let us not forget that it does have a stick to wield.