Every major purchaser of legal services now employs an in-house lawyer to control and co-ordinate the outsourcing of high value legal work.

In-house solicitors are the fastest-growing area of the legal profession, those with practising certificates growing by a staggering 22% last year.

There are currently 7,335 solicitors working in commerce and industry with practising certificates; when those working in the same areas without practising certificates are counted, the number of in-house solicitors probably exceeds 10,000.

The Law Society's Commerce and Industry Group has doubled in size during the last five years and recently the Law Society predicted that solicitors in commerce and industry would continue to be the fastest growing sector of the profession into the new millennium.

So, as a lawyer in private practice seeking to win new business, what does this mean for you?The entire structure of the legal profession is rapidly changing and with it, the level of sophistication of purchasers of legal services is also changing.

Those in favour of legal work being outsourced on the basis of merit will see the growth of in-house as a levelling of the playing field as large PLCs move away from single-source outsourcing based on historical ties to a horses-for-courses approach to instruction.

With this important market change comes a variety of opportunities for private practice suppliers who have previously found markets difficult to break into.In-house lawyers increasingly regard the efficient and cost effective outsourcing and managing of external resources as a key discipline.

This is reflected in the careful choice of external advisers, and the forming of panels of preferred providers in respect of particular specialist areas of work bearing in mind all business considerations to include quality, cost, and the location of the relevant work.So will this staggering increase in in-house lawyers also result in an increase in the work available by way of outsourcing for private practitioners? Surprisingly, the answer is likely to be yes.

When in-house lawyers go into companies where no in-house function has previously existed, they are often amazed by the large areas of work where key commercial transactions are undertaken without the benefit of legal advice.

Solicitors are aware of the value that legal advice can bring to the business and that realisation often results in a significant increase in the amount of legal work undertaken.

The benefits of the additional legal services to the business often greatly outweigh the cost of those legal services, particularly in high value businesses, and as a consequence the quantity of work available to private practice can significantly increase.The increasing prominence and importance of in-house lawyers has led many to conclude that those in the UK are now rapidly moving towards the status achieved by corporate counsel in the US.

The rapid growth in litigation has lead many major companies to conclude that the in-house solicitor is a vital member of the business decision-making process and legal risk management is the cornerstone.Private practice lawyers as service providers need to recognise these important market changes and work more closely with fellow solicitors in commerce and industry.

The C&I Group is made up entirely of in-house solicitors, and its executive and committees are populated by some of the most senior in-house solicitors in British commerce and industry.

The group exists not only to service the needs of in-house solicitors but to do so in conjunction with promoting the profession as a whole.Private practice benefits from the work outsourced by commerce and industry at every level be it conveyancing, planning and licensing work outsourced to a small high street firm or large merger and acquisition work outsourced to the biggest international City firm.

In short, in-house solicitors are at the heart of our profession.