Those who do not like what is going to happen as a result of last month's Clementi review may take a little comfort from knowing that they are not alone.


The profession in Victoria, Australia, is going through its second major review in a decade and the Legal Profession Bill, recently introduced to the state parliament, has several echoes of Sir David's proposals. According to the Law Institute Journal, Attorney-General Rod Hulls said the Bill continues the move away from self-regulation towards increasing the independence and accountability of regulators.



Under the Bill, a legal services board would have regulatory control of lawyers but could delegate some of its powers. A legal services commissioner would handle all complaints, but could delegate investigation to professional bodies. Multi-disciplinary partnerships would be allowed.


The move would leave the professional bodies as membership organisations, although Mr Hulls said they would have a role in developing rules which would be subject to the board's approval.


The Law Institute of Victoria largely welcomed the moves. Chief executive John Cain said the new system reflected the 'important balance between the need for a transparent regulatory arrangement and the need for an independent legal profession'.



Elsewhere, 'there can be no dispute that sex with clients is a serious problem for the legal profession', according to one contributor to Canadian Lawyer's cover story on this tricky subject last month.



It followed news that the Law Society of Upper Canada is 'inexplicably getting tough' on sex with clients and has decided to disbar a Toronto lawyer for sexual misconduct - only the second Canadian lawyer to face that sanction for the offence.


This decision was inexplicable not so much for its content but because the country's legal authorities have hitherto shown a degree of leniency to errant practitioners.


For example, a lawyer who offered to prepare a codicil for free if his client showed him her breasts received a reprimand. Another was suspended for 30 days for unsuccessfully trying to seduce a 16-year-old client, plying her with drink, flowers and Kentucky Fried Chicken, and suggesting a 'dating relationship' in exchange for legal services.


The Canadian Bar Association annual conference last year overwhelmingly rejected a bid to ban sex with clients outright. The article explained: 'One delegate, echoing the famous comment by Pierre Trudeau, said "the Canadian Bar Association and the law societies of this country have no place in the bedrooms of its lawyers".'


The magazine found arguments on both sides. Those against a ban say the problem can be addressed through existing rules, such as those on conflicts of interest (which is the general position in the UK). They also suggest that a ban may violate the right to privacy of clients and lawyers 'and, in what may be the most powerful argument of all, that sex with clients is perfectly OK in some situations'.


Senior litigator Jim Hodgson countered: 'Forget all the argument about what's personal life and what's professional life. No sex with clients is the best rule. It is very clear. It's a rule that, in the end, will save everybody an awful lot of trouble.'


The debate highlights what the magazine called 'growing resistance to the ever-expanding concept of "professional misconduct", and to the idea that law societies should be wide-ranging policemen of lawyers' lives'.



Closer to home, the Law Society of Ireland has a new president, Owen Binchy, who appears to hark back to the simpler days of practice. He has identified the cause of all modern problems: the telephone.



In an interview with the society's Gazette, he says: 'Before the telephone, people used to write to you or turn up at your office. Now you have e-mail and fax, and people are sitting at home or in their cars in traffic jams and they know they can pick up their phone and reach you.



'Now, you might be in the thick of a particular file when someone rings you, and you have to switch from the file in front of you to their file, and when you're finished with them, you have to switch back. It is the mental gymnastics this requires that I think makes it much harder these days.'


It's been said before and it'll be said again - without pesky clients, the practice of law would be a much better job.