Participating in the IBC Conference in Manchester recently, I heard Nick Green QC speak in person about his vision for the bar, and came away with a copy of his excellently clear paper The Future of The Bar.Typically, most conference packs that I pick up float around in the boot of my car for a few weeks or quickly find a home in the corner of my office before eventually making it into the recycling bin. Not this one. It provides a frank and refreshing analysis of the bar’s market position and should be essential reading for all managing partners, business development specialists and marketing directors in law firms.

Having given much thought to the challenges and opportunities arising from the changes to the competitive environment within the legal profession, I confess that I had really not given a great deal of thought to the potential of direct competition from the bar. Having spoken to a number of our clients since, I was comforted by the fact that I was not alone in this.

I had seen a few disparaging remarks on the Gazette website and LinkedIn discussions and assumed – wrongly – that the bar was bogged down in internal debate and was nothing much to worry about.

On the contrary, the impression that I gained was that Nick Green QC and his team had a very clear assessment of their market position, threats and opportunities, and a clear plan regarding how to go about exploiting their competitive strengths.

Given that Nick Green QC specialises in competition law, and some leading brains at Freshfields have been involved in developing the ProcureCo structure, it will be interesting to see this in action. Solicitors with a history of tendering for business will know that there is a lot more expertise required when it comes to getting on to tender lists, being shortlisted and obtaining a position on a panel. Even this is not a guarantee of work!

As with solicitors, there are innovators within the bar who are already moving to take competitive advantage of recent reforms, which include removing restrictions upon barristers practising in partnership and increasing the right of barristers to engage in direct access work. In fact, I know a number of chambers who have employed experienced business development professionals from top law firms for a number of years.

With all the focus being on ‘Co-op Law’ (as I prefer to call it), it is perhaps an easy mistake to forget to look for competition from below you in the food chain – when you are expecting the threat to come from above.

However, with potentially so much to lose, it might be a mistake to underestimate someone with so much to gain.

’He who exercises no forethought but makes light of his opponents is sure to be captured by them’ says Sun Tzu in The Art of War.

To exercise a little forethought about competition from the bar, download The Future of the Bar.