ISO 9000/9001 (BS5750), IiP, PMS, NVQ (SVQ), TQM, MCI, CPD, LPC, TEC, LEC, T&EA.

Yes, you have entered the acronym-packed world of training and quality standards.

Or is that T&QS?Jargon aside, nobody can object to the concept of good management or training.

Yet, in spite of the steady flow of press releases from award-winning solicitors' firms to the Gazette, the profession appears to be approaching voluntary quality standards with extreme caution.With the launch of a certification scheme for the Law Society's practice management standards (PMS) scheduled for February 1997, the temptation to subscribe to the standards available will increase.

Their advocates say that this is vital if the profession is to flourish in the next century.At present there are just three official 'kitemarks' that denote the presence of minimum management systems in a firm, though not necessarily the presence of good lawyers.

They are the ISO9000/9001 standard (formerly BS5750) and the Investors in People UK (IiP) standard.

In addition, franchises administered by the Legal Aid Board involve audited standards but, uniquely, attract specific financial benefits.Benefits for firms holding a quality mark, apart from those inherent in adopting high business standards, include brand recognition of the mark by industry and consumers.

And some larger companies in Europe will only contract with solicitors' firms that hold a quality standard.Approved by the Law Society's Council in July 1995, PMS will be a voluntary certified scheme.

It partially overlaps with ISO 9000/9001 and IiP, but its authors say it has been tailored specifically to the needs of the profession.Although the certificate will be issued by Chancery Lane, the assessors will be independent.

So firms can opt for PMS and other standards within a single assessment, although this will cost more.Independent assessors charge by the day.

The initial cost of a PMS assessment alone will depend on the size of the firm, how many offices it has and so on.

At today's prices one office with half-a-dozen people might cost £650.

For a firm with up to 30 people the cost could be £2625.

Annual monitoring visits cost between £475 and £550.Nationally, the take up of the existing standards has been slow, although people working in the field insist that the interest is there.

Currently just over 40 firms have ISO9000/9001; some 30 firms are recognised as Investors in People; and about 1140 offices have legal aid franchises.IiP, backed by the government, is the narrowest of the standards.

In the words of its marketing literature, it is 'the national quality standard for effective investment in the training and development of all people to achieve business goals'.One of its strongest supporters is Simon Baker, chairman of the Law Society's training committee.

He views IiP as the most relevant standard of all for solicitors because it 'addresses that most fundamental component of all of the solicitor's business, namely its people'.He states: 'If solicitors in the high street, in commercial practice or in company legal departments want to survive into the next century, the next millennium, they must come to terms wit h the need to change, develop and commit to lifelong learning in the way successful companies everywhere else in the economy have done.'But a recent report by business consultants the Hambleden Group painted a grim picture for IiP advocates.

It showed that across the economy, 'the vast majority of private sector employers remain resistant to the standard'.

The take-up targets set for the year 2000 were unlikely to be met without a 'radical marketing initiative', it said.Certainly the number of solicitors' firms obtaining IiP awards seems to be growing at a snail's pace.

The scheme began in 1993.

By the end of October 1995 there were 26 fully-fledged 'recognitions' and 361 'commitments' to join.

Yet three months later the respective totals were just 28 and 379.Joy Kingsley, managing partner of Manchester-based Pannone & Partners, the first law firm in Britain to obtain BS5750, has put off considering IiP until the PMS comes in next year.

'We did look at it but it seemed to be something that would take a lot of time for a lot of people and might not achieve an awful lot,' she says.Law Society President Martin Mears has serious general criticisms of the quality mark phenomenon.

'Where the procedures needed for these badges of merit are sensible, any decent firm would have them or something similar already,' he says, adding: 'If you subtract the banal basic procedures, what you're left with is bureaucratic imbecilities.'Ultimately, the pursuit of ever higher management and training standards is the way of the world, argues Gerald Newman, the Society official who was responsible for developing the PMS.

And people should not fear that any sense of individualism among solicitors will be squeezed out by external quality standards.'People don't expect quality to go backwards.

The legal profession will only survive through individuality and intellectual excellence.

What those need is a platform where you can take it for granted that the office will work for you and support what you're doing,' he said.