Never has a Law Society national conference made such an attempt to appeal to the grassroots of the solicitors' profession.

Chancery Lane bureaucrats and officers have often been accused of being oblivious to life in the high street, but this year's conference consciously focused on that large and widespread constituency of solicitors.A clear half of the programme for the two-day event has been devoted to the commendable aim of 'making high street practice profitable'.

The other main stream of the conference falls under the banner of 'practice management' -- a broad category which has appeal across the range of law firms.

But, in reality, much of that tranche of the conference is also aimed at the smaller, high street practitioner with only a gesture made to the mega commercial firms.And not without good reason.

Figures which will be presented to a conference session by the Society's research and policy planning unit show that more than 80% of the firms in England and Wales have between one and four partners.

While a few will be niche speciality practices, most are generalists working from high street offices.So, in Birmingham, the sessions are there for that group of practitioners.

Included in a full programme are categories such as 'How to succeed in sole practice', 'The legal aid franchise -- must I go for it?' and 'Lenders -- benefit or burden?' In fact, conference organisers have intentionally highlighted working sessions at the expense of hi gh profile set piece speeches, although there will be keynote addresses from Society President Martin Mears, Lord Woolf and Bar Chairman Peter Goldsmith QC.But will the high street solicitor travel to Birmingham to participate and hear the advice? It has been a perennial problem of Law Society conferences that the events easily turn into a talking shop and social function for the Chancery Lane establishment.And Society President Martin Mears is in little doubt that no matter how worthwhile in principle the conference sessions are, the wrong people will be sitting in the chairs listening.Said Mr Mears on the eve of the Birmingham event.

'The problem has always been that the people who come to the national conference tend not to be from the grassroots of the profession.

It is an intractable problem.

And it means that every year at the conference we look at the profession through a distorted perspective.'Both Mr Mears and Society Vice-President Robert Sayer have had limited direct experience of national conferences having attended only the 1994 event.For Mr Sayer, the conference holds substantial potential for networking.

'What is important is not necessarily the conference programme, but that solicitors come together to exchange views with each other.

The format is important, but not crucial.'But according to Mr Sayer, that opportunity will be missed.

He agrees with the President that conference delegates are drawn from too narrow a group.

'I don't think that many ordinary solicitors come along and they are the ones who should be there.

But they won't come until they see the Law Society as being relevant to their daily working lives.

At the moment, the vast majority of solicitors are still indifferent to the Society.'Conference organisers defend themselves by pointing to slightly improved registration figures compared with last year's London meeting.

More than 800 delegates are expected at the International Convention Centre, of whom 500-plus will be fully paying.

But of those, only about 250 will not be either a local law society president or secretary.Mr Sayer commented on the attendance figures: 'If you get only between 200 and 300 ordinary delegates out of a profession of some 70,000 then it's a very low percentage.' Indeed, the Bar -- with a membership of about 10% of the solicitors' profession -- drew around 350 delegates to its annual conference in London last weekend (see reports, page 4).Nonetheless, one group -- the Young Solicitors Group -- which has long been courted by conference organisers has responded enthusiastically this year.

Group chairwoman Lucy Winskell is scheduled to be on the platform with the three top Chancery Lane officers and Secretary-General John Hayes for an open question plenary session.

Ms Winskell promised that she would not pull back from a clash with the President over the issue of entry to the profession.

Both the YSG and the Trainee Solicitors Group are ardently opposed to Mr Mears' suggestion that entry might be limited to 1000 places annually.The YSG will also run a fringe meeting on the 'quality of life' for lawyers.

It will centre on an analysis of a special Gazette-sponsored conference earlier this year.But despite the high-profile YSG involvement, group attendance is still comparatively low.

There will be about 60 YSG and TSG delegates in total.

Ms Winskell lays the blame for the poor young turnout on a reluctance on the part of the organisers to waive the conference fees for YSG and TSG members.

Young lawyers are getting a reduction -- paying £112 compared with the s tandard £188 full rate -- but Ms Winskell maintains the conference should be free to her members.

Delegates in general, however, will be getting a better deal on fees this year, thanks to sponsorship of some £65,000 from the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Full fees last year topped the £200 mark.Ultimately, the success of this and future Society conferences will rest on the organisers' ability to solve the vexed problem of running a programme that speaks to the sort of solicitor for whom Chancery Lane is just another street in London.