Going around the country recently I have heard two pleas.

The first is how can the profession regain its sense of self-respect? The second is how can we nail the lie that all solicitors charge £350 an hour, even for legal aid work?We know that these charges are inaccurate.

They come from an American magazine which compares lawyers' charges from around the world.

They are disputed by our colleagues in the City.

We know that rates for green form advice are £43.25 per hour.

Nothing annoys me more than to hear on the radio or read in the newspapers about the 'Legal aid gravy train'.This all serves to underline the popular prejudice against lawyers.

The suggestion that all lawyers are only interested in money and are systematically overcharging their clients is a dangerous one.This is not just because it causes us to feel undervalued, but because it adds to the disillusionment with the system of justice in this country.The recent survey by the Law in Action programme on BBC Radio 4 presented a view of solicitors which was better than many would have anticipated.

Some 70% of those who had recent experience of using a solicitor rated the service as 'good' or 'very good'.

Of course, we must not be complacent, there is plenty of room to improve on that.

But the result was better than many of our critics would have us believe.More worrying is the finding that 57% thought that the legal system delivers justice only 'some of the time' or 'rarely'.

It appears from the context of the question that this criticism is aimed at the criminal rather than the civil justice system.

It underlines the task which we all share in trying to produce a system of justice which has the support of the people it serves.

The price of failure is anarchy.The profession underestimates itself.

This is partly the result of the age in which we live.

The time when a professional man or woman could expect to command the respect of the community has passed.

That is not unique to lawyers.

Today respect has to be earned.We have also lived through a recession as deep as any we can remember, and at a time when the traditional country solicitor has had to change in order to survive.

It is not surprising that we feel under pressure and depressed.Yet the position is not as bad as we think.

Surveys still show that the public trusts the advice of solicitors.

Contrary to the generally accepted view, clients are more sophisticated in choosing a solicitor than we seem to think.

Cost is the determining factor in only a small percentage of cases.

Most solicitors have a high 'return rate' of clients who were presumably satisfied.Our major firms are some of the largest and most innovative in the world.

They are also contributing £500 million a year to the country's invisible earnings.Now is the time to change perceptions both within and outside the profession.

This week marks the 150th anniversary of the royal charter, as any reader can hardly have failed to notice.

I want us to use this opportunity to tell the world what a good service solicitors give to their clients.

I want us to be more open in telling people what we can do to help them.

I want us to be less reticent about the work which is done in the community, unpaid and hitherto unsung.Our profession is at the forefront of justice.

We have been involved in many campaigns to reform the law or to help Parliament when proposals for change are being considered.As I have pointed out before, the law might be improved if our advice was taken more frequently.

Recent research has shown that we are well regarded by MPs and the work of our specialist committees is highly regarded.The launch of national law week gives us a reminder that now is the time to plan how we shall use this opportunity to tell people how the legal system works.

It is to be hoped that we shall be able to help to restore confidence in it.That is not the job for us alone.

The Bar, the judges, the Institute of Legal Executives and the government all have their part to play.

This is a serious challenge for us all.This cannot just be a cosmetic exercise.

If we are to restore confidence in the legal system then we must also continue to work to improve it.

If we are to improve the standing of our own branch of the legal profession we too must improve the quality of our services.We need to demonstrate our client care.

We need to be more open about cost and demonstrate the errors of surveys, such as that to which I referred.

We need to explain that the fee paid to a solicitor is not taken home at the end of the week, but must meet the expense of running our offices.What would help many firms is a reduction in these overhead expenses.

What better way of celebrating the sesquicentenary than to see the contributions for indemnity insurance, the compensation fund and the practising certificate fee held or even reduced.

These depend on the calls on the funds as well as our own tight control of expenditure.

The remedy lies in our own hands.At our conference last October I displayed some headlines I would like to see, such as 'Government recognises lawyers' contribution to invisible earnings', 'Justice defended by lawyers, says Consumers Association', 'Mackay defends legal aid spending as essential for justice' and 'Lawyers attacked unjustly says Lord Chancellor'.At the time we are celebrating the foundation of our Society perhaps I may add another to that list: 'Profession unites to support the Law Society'.

But perhaps that is a dream too far!