Those who think this is no longer one profession should know that firms of all sized still have the same concerns, challenges and opportunities, says Fiona Woolf


People often confront me with the proposition that the Law Society cannot properly represent a profession as diverse as ours has now become. My answer is that, as solicitors, we have a great deal in common and one of which is the need from a strong national representative body to protect and promote the reputation, competitiveness and income of solicitors.



Representing such a dynamic and vibrant profession, which continues to grow and diversify at an astonishing rate, does however pose its challenges. I am the first to admit that the Law Society had allowed the dust to settle on our service offerings to some parts of the profession, including in-house and new solicitors, together with the larger firms.



I am delighted to say that the Society has made important progress in all these areas – we are working with the Commerce & Industry Group to look at what we can do to support in-house lawyers more effectively. And we are set to launch an exciting initiative to support solicitors in the early stages of their careers at our annual conference in October.



My tour of the top 100 firms is reaching its conclusion and the feedback from them is full of common themes. Many of the issues raised by the big firms apply across the board to firms of all sizes, particularly:

l The way we are regulated, which needs to move to modern, proportionate, risk-based regulation;

l Implementation of the new Code of Conduct and the shared need for training;

l Great concern about the implications of the implementation of the Third Money Laundering Directive;

l The need for an even-handed and efficient Legal Complaints Service;

l Increasing worries about attacks on the value of law to the individual, society, business and the economy, and the importance of lawyers to that value;

l The public image and collective reputation of the profession;

l Any erosion of our independence and core ethical principles;

l Implementation of the Legal Service Bill and the costs to be borne by the profession;

l Strong pressures on fees and increased competition;

l A feeling that they are facing seismic change and have to review their business models accordingly; and

l The need to explore how legal work might be standardised and systematised (given that a number of firms have successfully adopted an entirely different business approach to property, personal injury and asset recovery work) for the benefit of the market and the profitability of law firms.



There is also shared concern about legal aid. At a Manchester-based managing partners forum I attended last month, the larger firms expressed their concerns about the challenges faced by small and mid-tier practices and the future of legal aid for much of the afternoon. This is replicated up and down the country – support for our legal aid campaign is huge and widespread across the profession.



Many of the informal discussions over breakfast, lunch and dinners have centred around the huge changes that confront all parts of the profession. We have focused on the small and mid-tier practices but there are big issues confronting large commercial firms and in-house solicitors too. There is a concentrated initiative by large corporate clients to put enormous fee pressures on large firms. Groups of clients are looking for work to be done on a syndicated basis, which they will share.



The personal and commercial client worlds may seem poles apart, but unsurprisingly they both face increased competition and fee pressure in an already competitive and pressurised world.



I like to dispel myths that the large firms face less competition. They live in a world of competitive tendering and fixed fees – all of my own work has been procured that way since the early 1990s.



We also all face a fear of the unknown. We seem to worry about the costs of a competitive advantage rather than the gain. We should have the confidence to know that this is not the first time we have confronted change and embraced it, showing that we can both compete strongly and innovate. Here I think much will depend on:

l Winning the war for talent – by which I mean recruiting and, more importantly, retaining the brightest and best staff;

l Spotting and embracing the opportunities;

l Acquiring (or buying in) new management skills;

l Exploiting the areas of work that lie on the edge of the law or between the disciplines;

l Adding or joint venturing with different disciplines and talents;

l Being prepared to retain profit for investment; and

l Thinking out of the box and being good at implementation.



There is no point, and little advantage to be had, in thinking all of this is unfair. Increased competition may seem unfair but it happens all the time. The great thing is that the slow implementation timetable for legal services reform gives us at least of couple of years to get our act together, and at the Law Society we are getting our act together to help you.



The Law Society must focus on the pressures for change that the profession faces if it is to provide the services, support and thought leadership that all sectors of the profession need.



Fiona Woolf is President of the Law Society