Janet Paraskeva runs the rule over the Law Society's diverse work for solicitors, from influencing money laundering legislation and guiding lawyers on its application, to lobbying on legal aid issues and CFAs

'What does the Law Society do for me?' This is one of the questions I am most frequently asked, and not surprisingly.

A great deal of the Society's most visible work is about dealing with regulation.

As a result, lots of important Society work gets squeezed out of the limelight.

But observers should not be deceived into thinking that there is nothing else going on.

Take a closer look and it becomes clear that, in fact, there is an array of activity taking place, all of it aimed at supporting solicitors, championing their role and removing the obstacles that hinder their work.

This spans every aspect of the profession, whether in relation to lobbying on legal aid for publicly funded lawyers or for international practice rights that benefit larger firms.

But when the Society says it is doing all this work on behalf of solicitors, what does it really mean? A few examples can illustrate the point, and one of the most important is the subject of money laundering.

In the light of the threat of international terrorism, this issue has focused political and legal minds, since curtailing financial crime is a crucial way of tackling terrorist activity at its roots.

As a result, there has been new legislation at domestic and European levels.

The impact on solicitors is potentially huge, including the introduction of criminal offences that apply to professionals.

The Society has worked hard to influence the shape of this legislation and to provide appropriate guidance to solicitors about their obligations under existing and new rules.

This is an ongoing issue, and the most recent development - the ruling by Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss that confirms that divorce lawyers must disclose any tax evasion, no matter how minor - will also be subject to analysis, and we will provide additional guidance in due course.

Another area that has recently been the subject of high profile court rulings is conditional fee agreements (CFAs).

In March of this year, the Society intervened on behalf of the profession in several Court of Appeal cases that had resulted from technical breaches of the rules on CFAs.

The Society's interventions were successful, confirming the validity of the agreement.

We have since been involved with discussions on the introduction of a simplified agreement - 'CFA simple' - that has a less complex regulatory structure.

Recently, we also intervened in the Jemma Trust case, to uphold the structure of charging for legal services in probate matters.

We were pleased to see that the Court of Appeal has supported the case we made on the profession's behalf.

The Society is currently in the middle of a huge programme of activity relating to legal aid.

The problems facing publicly funded solicitors include a crippling volume of bureaucracy alongside poor rates of remuneration.

Fewer solicitors are now prepared to do legal aid work, and this has had a drastic effect on access to justice.

We are lobbying government on the need for fair remuneration for legal aid lawyers, while also proposing a review of publicly funded legal services to look at new ways of providing legal advice.

In practice, this has meant consulting the profession, conducting research among practitioners and the public, drawing up a strategy for the Society for the approval by the council.

We have also been working with journalists to raise the issue in the media, meeting with ministers, lobbying MPs and peers to support our campaign and organising and participating in conferences and seminars that address the issue.

The focus of our work is not just in England and Wales.

For those solicitors who have an interest in expanding their work to foreign markets, one of the key activities of our international team is its lobbying for greater practice rights for English and Welsh solicitors in other jurisdictions.

We have focused particularly on the Far East, the US and Eastern Europe and Russia.

In the EU, we have campaigned for better application of the European Establishment Directive for lawyers, which allows lawyers to practise in other EU countries - particularly in France and Luxembourg where a number of practitioners have sought assistance from the Society.

At home, we also lobby MPs, peers and the government on legislative plans and on our own proposals for reform.

Solicitors often have much to offer to the law-making process and the Society aims to be a conduit for that contribution through the expertise of its specialist committees.

One example of significant change is conveyancing, where the Society made clear its concerns about problems with the proposed home information packs.

We were also actively involved in the consultation process that led to the introduction of the new stamp duty land tax - which will be a tax on transactions rather than the previous tax on documents - and we commented on the draft Bill which enacted the change.

The changes have the potential to cause difficulties for solicitors and clients, and so, alongside the Inland Revenue, the Society is running a series of 24 seminars for practitioners covering the new procedures, raising practice issues and addressing concerns.

What I hope these examples reflect is the Law Society's wholehearted commitment to the vigorous promotion of solicitors' interests - whether that relates to how they practise, the workability of the law or the provision of proper remuneration.

Janet Paraskeva is the Law Society's chief executive