The intergovernmental conference (IGC) concerns us all as lawyers and as EU citizens.

The immediate impact of the IGC on solicitors' practices may be marginal but it will raise a multitude of issues with the capacity to affect everyone, including solicitors, in the long term.The political climate within the EU is such that any changes to the treaties are likely to relate to the way in which the EU takes decisions, rather than the scope of its powers.The debate preceding the opening of the IGC has focused on issues such as measures to accommodate the expansion of the EU to include central and eastern European countries, how the EU decision-making machinery can be brought closer to EU citizens and how the EU can enforce its international role.It is recognised that to meet these challenges, steps will need to be taken to simplify, and render more accountable, the work of the EU institutions.

This will need to include a close look at the workings of the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

The ECJ could face a shake-up regarding the number of judges, the casework attributed and the time in which judgments are delivered.

Provisions to allow greater rights to intervene in cases before the ECJ under art 173(4) of the EU Treaty may also be on the agenda.

Such changes would be likely to be welcomed by the legal profession.The IGC may also decide to consolidate and simplify the treaties into a single treaty.

Such a development would make the treaty provisions more accessible and, in turn, enable practitioners to identify relevant provisions for a particular situation more easily.The call for simplified and more transparent EU legislative procedures has been echoed in many quarters.

The complexity of some of these procedures, coupled with the secrecy surrounding some stages in the legislative process, makes it difficult to follow the progress of new EU laws.

Smoother and more accessible procedures for adopting EU laws would make it easier for solicitors to advise their clients on important EU developments.The EU's power and its competence to introduce new legislation is le ss likely to change.

The notion of extending the competence of the Union is not particularly popular.

The UK government has made it clear in its IGC manifesto that it will oppose any proposal to increase the EU's ambit, and this is a position it probably shares with a number of other member states.Consequently, substantive law areas covered in the EU statute books are likely to remain the same after the IGC has been concluded.

However, some changes might emerge regarding the legal instruments currently used in the area of justice and home affairs.

This area is currently confined to joint actions and common positions under the third pillar of the Maastricht Treaty, ie matters for national governments rather than EU institutions.

It has been debated whether or not these matters should be dealt with under the first pillar of the Maastricht Treaty.

If so, the role of the Commission, European Parliament and the ECJ would be strengthened and legislation would be adopted in the form of binding Regulations and Directives.

Such a move could give rise to a number of new EU laws.

The Commission has, in its opinion on the IGC, expressed a wish for a closer European view on immigration, crime prevention and procedures before national courts.

Any legislative measures covering these issues would no doubt reflect on the work that solicitors do.The interests that have been promoted by member states and the EU institutions preceding the IGC would not run counter to any of the basic principles on which the legal profession is founded.

Brussels is not and will not be the forum for regulating the way in which the legal profession is governed and what its role should be.

An integrated Europe is about peace and prosperity, and this is what the treaties seek to attain.MAIN AREAS OF POTENTIAL CHANGE-- Review of the EU institutions and in particular the ECJ.-- Review of the legislative procedures with a view to simplifying them and rendering them more transparent.-- Simplification and consolidation of the treaties, possible reduction into one treaty.-- Shifting justice and home affairs from third pillar to the first pillar of the Maastricht Treaty, thus paving the way for new Euro-laws in this field.