Hive of industry

For the past decade, lawyers in commerce and industry have been busy burying an old image and creating a new one.The old stereotype was of in-house lawyers operating in Sleepy Hollow, rousing themselves only to phone private practice specialists for help.Recently it has become accepted that corporate counsel provide valuable legal advice and business acumen to their employers.Now instead of looking down their noses atin-house lawyers, private practitioners have to look up from a prone position, given the former's control of multi-million pound legal spends.Last week's International Bar Association's corporate counsel conference in Paris hammered home just how complex the role of in-house legal adviser has become.Another indication of the growing strength of in-house counsel in the UK has come from the Law Society's innovative Commerce and Industry Group.

It has been at the forefront in recognising the important role played by women solicitors, and last week elected its third ever female leader.Many solicitors want to go in-house, for the status, the supposedly better work/life balance and the chance to practise in a more commercial environment.

So say goodbye to the old-fashioned image.

In ten years, corporate counsel have gone from the bottom to the top of the pile, and the resurgence of the C&I group is a sign of that.