The Clementi review needs to provide a clear definition of what constitutes legal services, Bar Council chairman Stephen Irwin QC told the annual conference of European bar leaders in Vienna last week.

'We need a body of thought that will last and will extend beyond this review to the next stages,' said Mr Irwin.

'It is likely that Clementi will combine broad questions about multi-disciplinary partnerships, similar disciplinary partners and ownership - but he is not likely to look at the definition of legal services.

But we [the Bar Council] see the need for such a definition as an issue of public interest.'

However, Joe Platt, president of the Law Society of Scotland, suggested that legal services were almost impossible to define.

'Regulation should focus on the person and not the activity,' he said.

Speaking after the meeting, Law Society President Peter Williamson said: 'We have and will continue to work very closely with the Bar Council over the Clementi review.

We are both basically saying the same thing but with a possibly different emphasis.'

Sir David Clementi's consultation paper outlining the parameters of his review of regulation and competition in the legal sector - which will trigger a wide debate among lawyers and ministers alike - is expected to be launched by the end of March.

Elsewhere at the Vienna conference, a series of three surveys conducted by the Austrian Federal Bar Association illustrated considerable differences in approach among European legal professions over cross-border practice issues.

The Austrian bar surveyed 31 legal profession regulatory bodies in 22 European countries, focusing on EU and European Economic Area countries.

The research found that the countries were evenly split on the issue of whether non-EU lawyers can join a law firm in an EU country.

However, a clear majority said that law firms from non-EU countries could become established locally.

Jonathan Ames