There was an era, younger members of the profession may be surprised to know, when the Law Society administered the legal aid system, when solicitors were held in esteem, even awe, by the general public, and when the largest law firm in the land could have no more than 20 partners. Those days are gone, but they were briefly evoked on Friday when the Law Society library put on a display of photographs from annual conference dinners of yesteryear for delegates at this year's event. And while fashions may have changed between Llandudno in 1955, Torquay in 1962 , and Folkestone in 1971, to take three of them, it is strangely reassuring to see that male Law Society attachment to smart, small moustaches did not, a trend we are pleased to report has continued to the present day in the impressive shape of Rodney Warren, chairman of the Law Society's representation board.