The future of the legal aid system is perhaps the most important and pressing issue for small to medium-sized practices in our high streets.

There may not be many general practitice law firms today, but there is a significant proportion of the solicitors' profession that is dependent on the apparatus of the state funded legal system.

Putting aside the moral issues of the state's obligations to its citizens, there is a huge issue of survival for many law firms.

That is why the proposals put forward to the Law Society Council this week are to be welcomed.

This wide-raging discussion paper approaches the problem from just about every conceivable angle in a dispassionate and analytical fashion.

The one response that ministers at the Department for Constitutional Affairs and elsewhere in Whitehall won't be able to utter is that the leaders of the solicitors' profession haven't put in the intellectual effort.

So what are the main issues? As the Society's paper points out, 'publicly funded legal services in England and Wales are at a crossroads'.

Lawyers take the view that ministers just want to cut costs, and the government reckons that the legal profession is wasteful.

Again, as the paper says: 'There appears to be very little real trust between the funder and suppliers.' And who loses out? The users of publicly funded legal services who are 'increasingly marginalised'.

The problems may appear to be intractable.

But in life and politics there is generally a way through the maze.

This Law Society paper at least provides the basis for talking about solutions.