If the legal profession were to adopt a purely Machiavellian point of view, then there's nothing like a bursting Queen's speech to boost work for lawyers.

Last week's instalment from the government is a prime example.

There is plenty there to occupy specialist lawyers in several fields for some time.

The Employment Relations Bill, the Pensions Bill and the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Bill spring out of the speech as sources of potential work for solicitors.

But it is not all good news.

If anything, the Immigration and Asylum Bill looks set to reduce dramatically the amount of work available in that field.

Whitehall policies have already hit this area hard - with new matter starts falling by almost half - and it now seems more is to come.

If there is one piece of proposed legislation that will affect the largest group of solicitors it is the Housing Bill, which, against the odds, includes the controversial home information packs.

Opinion is split.

The Law Society - along with many practitioners - is adamant that the packs will be detrimental to the conveyancing process, adding up to 500 to the cost of buying and selling residential property.

Others suggest that the packs could be good for solicitors, as sellers are driven to seek their advice earlier in the process as a result of having to compile the packs.

As always, then, the Queen's speech is a curates egg for the profession, albeit one bursting its shell.