Ringing the changes

For monarchists and republicans alike, the Queen's golden jubilee celebrations have been a focal point for reflection.

Those 50 years have seen many changes for the legal profession.

The size, shape and composition of the solicitors' and barristers' professions bear little resemblance to their 1952 appearance.

There are some similarities - many of the same firm names still rank at the top of the table, and barristers are, of course, still wearing wigs - but the massive domestic and international growth of the business side of the law has transformed lawyers of 2002 into very different creatures.

The public perception of lawyers and the law has also evolved during the past half century.

Rightly or wrongly, the days of unquestioning reverence and respect for lawyers are long gone.

There was undoubtedly a concept of client care in 1952, but it was not so clearly defined as it is today.

Likewise, lawyers 50 years ago would have been involved in voluntary community work.

But it would have been less structured and co-ordinated than it is today, as will be highlighted by next week's National Pro Bono Week.

And what of the next 50 years? Multi-disciplinary practices? Greater flexibility for employed lawyers? E-conveyancing - the death or saviour of the high street? More solicitor high court advocates? A fused profession?

And those are just the issues for the next decade.

Whatever the shape of the monarchy in 50 years' time, one thing is certain - the legal profession will be vastly different from the day Elizabeth II took the throne.