For the legal profession, 2004 will be the year of Clementi.

And even though we are still two months shy of 1 January, the bandwagon has already begun to roll, throwing up new concepts such as 'architectural issues' and new acronyms, such as SDPs (that's similar disciplinary practices, for the uninitiated).

This may confuse those lawyers who have just got their heads round the existing alphabet soup of MDPs (multi-disciplinary partnerships), MJP (multi-jurisdictional practice), MNPs (multi-national partnerships) and FLCs (foreign legal consultants).

However, David Clementi and his review of regulation within the legal profession are on the scene with major backing from the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs.

And not only that, if this week's press briefing is anything to go by, the Prudential chairman clearly means business.

'It would be surprising,' he said, 'if I were to conclude the status quo is perfect.' No clearer sign should be needed that regulatory change is going to be recommended.

An impression from the briefing was that Mr Clementi will be taking more of a broad-brush approach and analysis, rather than peering into every nook and cranny of regulation.

It is possible that he will propose a core edifice with the minutiae dealt with by surrounding pro-competition regulatory structures.

Those structures may, or may not, involve the profession's governing bodies, depending on Mr Clementi's verdict on self-regulation.

And on that point, Mr Clementi gave this response to the question of whether it was important for him to have the profession's support: 'It's not a popularity contest'.

The name Clementi will be ringing in the lawyers' ears for some time to come.