Securing the future

This year The Solicitors Annual Meeting undergoes a transformation in keeping with the fast-changing face of the profession.

Jonathan Ames finds out what lies in store for those attending

It might well be a hackneyed sentiment, but at the dawn of the new millennium, the legal profession stands on the precipice of monumental change.

Both opportunities and threats swirl round in what many view as a cauldron of uncertainty.

Fittingly, this year's solicitors annual conference - dubbed Solicitors 2000 or S2K - will be unlike any of its predecessors.

Scheduled for 4-5 November at the Society's London headquarters, it will be a short, sharp shock of an event, which the organisers are hoping will encourage lively, interactive debate among grassroots members of the profession.The two days will kick off with a keynote speech by the Law Society President, Michael Napier, but following that set-piece, most of the sessions will be billed as 'forums', at which delegates will be encouraged to contribute to the debate.

John Lymbury, the chairman of the organising committee, explains: 'We want to avoid having a panelist speaking for 45 minutes in a one-hour session.

The programme's topics are designed to provoke interactive discussion between the delegates and the panellists.'

And indeed, there should be plenty on offer to stimulate debate.

Forum topics cut across a range of issues currently preoccupying practising solicitors.

Subjects of immediate importance such as complaints handling, professional indemnity, implementation of the Human Rights Act and the future of legal aid will be high on the agenda.

Likewise, there will be an opportunity to debate more general, albeit still practical topics such as the developments surrounding the funding of litigation and the increasing necessity of solicitors becoming risk assessors.

There will also be sessions devoted to the rapidly evolving area of e-commerce and the associated subject internal technology needs.

Broader still will be a forum on the shape of practice in the 21st century, which will include discussion of multi-disciplinary partnerships, solicitors' chambers and bulk referrals.

Practice management and marketing will also be up for debate, as will the issue of lifestyle, which will touch on delicate subjects such as client dependency, career choices, health and family.

The conference will be rounded off with a second plenary session moderated by the former BBC legal correspondent, Joshua Rozenberg, who is now the legal editor at the Daily Telegraph.

Mr Rozenberg will tackle the thorny topic of the reputation of the profession.

As Mr Lymbury points out: 'The reputation of solicitors is facing an all-time abyss.

It is time we started to speak up for ourselves.'

Mr Lymbury is also concerned with the reputation of the conference itself.

He maintains that the more traditional style of Law Society annual meeting, run over three to four days, with a wide variety of social events, has lost favour with the grassroots of the profession - if, indeed, it ever was in favour in the first place.

This year, he says, 'the Law Society has an opportunity to present a different format that will have a greater level of appeal to the profession at large'.

He points to the pricing structure as a key element in attracting greater numbers of delegates.

This year it is 95 plus VAT, whereas past Law Society conferences have had delegate fees of more than 300.Mr Lymbury readily acknowledges that this year's London conference will be weighted slightly in favour of addressing issues of concern to the high street.

'It is in the general practices that most of the concern about the future of the profession lies,' he maintains.

However, the organisers are keen to point out that the 2001 conference in Birmingham will redress the balance with a significant emphasis on company/commercial issues.

Early indications are that the ideas behind the London conference are proving popular.

S2K organisers have already received about 340 bookings, which is less than 100 short of a sell-out.

The unique conference dinner - to be held at the Royal Courts of Justice - is also well subscribed.

For additional information, contact the conference administrator, Amanda Graham-Brown, tel: 01403 823246; or visit the Web site: www.lawcons.co.uk