The Council of Bars and Law Societies of the European Union (CCBE) is a microcosm of the EU itself, as it faces up to the difficult task of balancing national sensitivities with the growing demands of cross-border law and practice.

And with ten new voices added to every debate earlier this month, the problem is going to get trickier.

As a result, it is sometimes unable to reach agreement on controversial issues - such as allowing clients to give informed consent for firms to continue acting despite conflicts of interest - while at other times, it comes up with resolutions too general to have much effect.

But that does not mean the CCBE has not been able to act more decisively in other areas.

It has launched recent important initiatives on issues such as professional indemnity insurance, corporate social responsibility and the International Criminal Court.

And at a time when the European Commission and other regulatory bodies around the world are showing considerably more interest in the activities of lawyers, it is important that the profession has a voice in Brussels, the World Trade Organisation and elsewhere that speaks for them all, complementing the lobbying of national law societies and bar associations.

Almost by definition, an organisation that tries to represent so many diverse legal traditions is always going to be limited in how far it can go in some areas.

But the CCBE is the kind of body that, if it did not exist, would have to be created.