Sex sells - but will property follow suit, papers wonderHaving heavily indulged in lawyer-bashing in recent weeks, virtually all the papers turned their attention to another of their favourite sports this week - the conveyancing system.As a results of a government pilot, sellers packs - which must be prepared before a property is put on the market - will be compulsory.

The Independent (20 November) championed this 'welcome news', which, it is to be hoped, will put an end to the 'three month long stress fest' that buyers currently have to endure.

However, it did warn that the pack - which includes 'all that boring stuff about legal title' - is not a 'magic bullet', and the paper feared that 'the government is not going far enough in taking on the vested interests of the surveyors'.

The Daily Telegraph (25 November) gloomily predicted that the introduction of the pack would leave buyers and sellers 'out of pocket', as 'the only people who will be pleased about the seller's pack will be solicitors and estate agents' who stand to make 'around 350-400' from each pack.

The Sunday Times (26 November) said the packs were 'doomed to failure' both because of their cost and the inclusion of a survey commissioned by the seller; however, the article charitably admitted that the idea was 'well meaning'.The Times splashed the not totally shocking discovery that the 'law is still biased towards the rich, white and male' (20 November).

A forthcoming book, Discriminating Lawyers, apparently shows that 'City law firms tend to favour Oxbridge students over less popular universities, especially over former polytechnics'.

More predictable revelations were to be found in The Guardian's interview with high-profile solicitor Denise Kingsmill, deputy chairman of the competition commission and general tough cookie (25 November).

The 'slim, blonde and elegant' Ms Kingsmill apparently 'relishes' her title as the most feared woman in Britain, because, she says, 'people don't want a wimp, they want a tough lawyer'.

One firm that surely cannot be accused of old fashioned boardroom practices is City practice SJ Berwin & Co, picked by The Guardian (25 November) for a profile as one of its 'cool companies'.Praised for its 'innovative' and 'unusual' practices, The Guardian glowingly described how 'unlike its more stuffy rivals', SJ Berwin has a 'healthy disregard for petty formalities and rigid rules'.

However, lest you think that a wave of anarchy had swept the City, it swiftly added that this disregard for rules stretched to 'all employees being on first-name terms'.More rule bending, as The Times (23 November) and The Independent (25 November) both reported how many expert witnesses are 'pressured to change their evidence' on the witness stand.

Apparently lawyers frequently encourage witnesses to 'bend the rules' in favour of the side that is paying them in order to achieve a quick result.No week would be complete without a Daily Mail 'Outrage' story - this week it was the turn of solicitor Martyn Day, who having secured 10,000 compensation package for each of thousands of Japanese prisoners of war, is now 'seeking' 500 payment from each one (26 November).

Mr Day - who, the Mail informs us, lives in a 'detached' house worth '400,000' - explained that the payment is entirely voluntary as there had been too many claimants to organise individual agreements with the firm.

'Those who feel we have helped them will hopefully pay,' he said.Finally, some hope for the legal profession - regularly lambasted on the back of a negative image.

It is also, according to The Mirror (21 November) one of the 'sexiest' professions around.

An IT consultant from Edinburgh, when questioned by the paper, said that 'lawyers have to be the sexiest - or should that be highly sexed - women around'.He describes one of his ex-girlfriends, a sadly anonymous senior partner, who apparently 'was up for it all the time' and 'liked dominating me in bed - tying me up, that kind of thing'.

It brings a whole new meaning to the concept of the tough and unwimpish woman lawyer.Victoria MacCallum