In the past few weeks I've been spending a lot of time at conferences and seminars set up by the Law Society's Law Management Section around the country. Several things have occurred to me while I drive back and forth or sit on a train from the comments of the assembled solicitors.

The loudest noise is about the Law Society and its function, now that the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Office for Legal Complaints are separate entities (almost), and that noise includes comments like: 'What difference would it make to our firm if the Law Society disappeared?' and 'What does the Law Society do to help my (successful) practice?'

I was able to ask Des Hudson, Law Society chief executive, these and similar questions at a recent event and I was impressed that he was immediately able to outline a dozen or so good responses. These included collective representation to government and other public bodies of solicitors' needs, help on the big issue of professional indemnity insurance, and how the Law Society Sections can work to help firms get more from their collective knowledge.

But, though some of the answers were aimed at supporting the not-so-successful firms, what is clear is that the Law Society is not getting its message across to those that are paying for it.

Senior or managing partners spend the majority of their time earning fees and running their departments. It's not until you get to the bigger firms that you see non-fee-earning solicitors. Although I would suggest this is a waste of their experience and talent, what both groups have in common is that they are not listening to that message.

Now that I've annoyed many people, my point is that the legal services market is changing rapidly and the management of a firm needs to be guided by a clear view of the potential future. This means senior or managing partners need to spend time reading, researching and formulating views that will inform their future plans. They also need to gain the agreement of partners to set clear objectives for their firm.

Non-management partners need to accept that those involved in management duties will earn less in fees but provide a very valuable contribution to the firm and should be credited for it. This is then a marketing expense because 'marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating, and satisfying customers' requirements profitably', according to the Chartered Institute of Marketing. May I suggest the partners start by looking at what the Law Management Section of the Law Society has to offer and possibly come along to a few of the events and listen.