Earlier this year steps were taken to bring the UK into line with quality assurance elsewhere by changing references to BS5750 to the more internationally recognised ISO 9000.

The standard has been adopted here with greater enthusiasm by law firms than elsewhere, though a handful of firms are now certified in Australia and New Zealand.ISO 9000 sets out 20 management principles which deal with three broad families of requirements: management; the administration of the quality system; and the process undertaken by the organisation as its business activity.

The solicitors' practice seeking to comply with the standard must set out in a documented system how it will meet these various requirements.

If it then proves to a certifyin g body that it does conform to these principles it will be entitled to be certified as conforming to the standard.The requirements of ISO 9000 will look increasingly familiar to most solicitors.

The case management provisions of the practice management standards and the equivalent sections of the Legal Aid Board franchising specification are both based directly upon its requirements.

The systematic taking of instructions, planning the progress of each matter, safeguarding papers and other items of the client and regular file reviews all therefore feature in all three codes.The firm that has achieved franchise status or has worked to put the practice management standards into effect may consider itself to be 80% towards compliance with ISO 9000 as a result.

Ensuring that all departments adopt this method of working, rather than just those who have achieved a franchise, is a common reason for working towards ISO 9000.Confusion nonetheless remains widespread about the standard.

Bureaucracy need not be overwhelming, depending on the design of the system.

It is also untrue to state that doing things badly but consistently will bring certification - this would be more likely to be regarded as a failure of the quality system.

Above all ISO 9000 should be understood for what it is: one management device of many to ensure quality for clients.

It will not of itself transform a practice overnight, but it will contribute towards a wider programme of improvements by defining more clearly the minimum standards expected throughout the practice.

Without the discipline of such a system, the commitment to quality determined by the partners can easily be good intentions, but little else.Matthew Moore.In current legal management parlance, there has developed an almost unbreakable link between the concepts of 'quality' and 'client care', and between 'client care' and 'information and complaint handling'.

We at LawNet believe that this is a misleading, if not dangerous, confusion of concepts.At the heart of any client care system must be the belief that work should be undertaken in the way that the client wishes it to be undertaken.

That does not mean simply introducing a quality management system such as BS5750 or merely establishing a complaint handling procedure, as so many proponents of 'quality management' seem prepared to argue.

Procedural quality and quality review are important, but they are not the whole story.Firms must assess the needs of their clients and potential clients, address those needs by establishing and implementing appropriate internal procedures and finally monitor the implementation of those procedures throughout the practice to ensure compliance by everyone at all times.

Firms must devise and implement a plan whereby the needs of their particular clients - not simply the needs of the hypothetical person on the Clapham Omnibus - are assessed, addressed and monitored.We have achieved this at LawNet by devising a standard of our own - quality in law - which, while incorporating procedural requirements of the kind to be found in other standards prevalent in the legal marketplace, also contains many elements designed to focus and direct the efforts of solicitors towards delivering a client-centred service.The market for legal services has changed to a consumer driven one.

No longer is it enough for firms to say that they give good legal advice.

If they are to survive, firms must now say to clients: 'We will deliver the service you want, in the way that you want it, to the standard you expect.' Only then will firms hav e taken a positive approach to client care.Simon Maddox.In achieving the standards set by Investors in People (IIP), the partners of Lightfoots were forced to look at the structure of their organisation, its objectives in the short and medium term and the role which all those working here were to play in reaching those goals.

In 1992 when we started, practice management standards and the legal aid franchises were only in the discussion stages.

IIP was a reality.It has provided us with annual career briefings for all members of the firm and assessment of training needs both in the short and longer term, ensured that training is relevant to the needs and development of both firm and individual, and engendered a better sense of belonging and staff loyalty.From a practical point of view, IIP assures those using our services that we have been externally audited and have reached certain standards in the way in which we train and organise ourselves.

It has become a truism, but nonetheless true, to say that solicitors are in a 'people' business.

The steps we take to ensure that all our people are properly trained to do their job says a good deal about the quality of the service we give.

We also found that when we completed the pre-audit questionnaire for the legal aid franchise, we could immediately tick off 55 of the 80 questions on the list.

Having looked at the practice management standards, we see that there is a similar overlap.John Miles