Some commentators have been sceptical about the latest drive for reform at the Law Society.

They say they have seen and heard it all before: the cries that 'something must be done', followed by the establishment of a 'committee to report back'.

That in turn would result in a few recommendations, implemented in part, until everyone calmed down and settled back to the old ways.What is different this time?First, this is a process that involves the entire Law Society Council.

While Sir Dennis Stevenson has provided valuable input by identifying two issues that the Society must get right -- simplifying decision making and promoting the value of the profession -- he has offered no prescriptions.

The solutions are being engineered by the Council through discussion and debate.Secondly, the process will be completed by Christmas 1998 and implementation will start immediately.

Three months from analysis to implementation smacks of the Law Society putting on a bit of speed.We are not getting bogged down in analysis.

Council members know the profession wants a more effective Law Society that offers decisive leadership.

They want to provide it.Most realise that means pulling away from endless debate about detail and drafting points with issues being referred backwards and forwards to a plethora of committees.

Instead, it means dealing head-on with the big issues facing solicitors and deciding how the Society can lead the debate and provide the right kind of support.Under the proposals being considered, day-to-day implementation of the Council's strategy would be supervised by an executive committee which would ensure that staff deliver on the objectives set by the Council.

The executive committee would be directly accountable to the Council through mechanisms such as question times with senior staff.The chairman of the executive committee would ensure that all the policy decisions of Council were followed through.

Meanwhile, as chief executive I, along with the members of my management team, would report directly to the executive committee, and have to account for our management of staff and resources.

The position of Law Society President would remain paramount as the chair of the Council and the leader of the profession.What would happen to the now famous 140 committees? Some Society committees are repositories of expertise and best practice, populated with the finest brainpower in the profession.

Their valuable, painstaking analysis of proposed legislation and regulations is widely respected, not just within the profession, but by others such as the government, the Inland Revenue, opposition parties and interest groups.

Some would stay as panels of expertise that could be called on by the Council when necessary.

But they would have only a consultative role with no veto on decision making.It is likely that committees that exercise regulatory functions under statute would stay.

But there are many more committees the work of which overlaps, or which are performing tasks that staff should undertake and be made accountable for.

Others were created in the past to fill a need that no longer exists.

On 10 Dece mber, the Council will have a list of choices of what to keep and what to disband.Another element of the package would change the electoral system for office-holders by having a contest each year for Deputy Vice President with appropriate mechanisms if that person could not go on to serve as President for any reason.Alongside these structural reforms will be a major effort to create public understanding of, and confidence in, the essential role solicitors play in society.The Law Society needs a system of decision making that will enable it to operate in a business-like way which takes account of the fact that it is a regulatory and a membership body.

That is why the Council has to tailor the solution.

The work is well underway.