Recent research suggests that only one in four solicitors knows who his or her Law Society Council member is -- and that is probably the same one in four who is active in the local law society.

What chance is there of solicitors knowing about the other 74 Council members?Later this year, the whole profession will be consulted as part of the most comprehensive review of the Society's Council in recent times.

The process will be meaningless unless everyone understands the current profile of the Council, and the work and contribution of its members.Recent press coverage might have given the impression that the Council is a group of middle-aged men which gets together once a month for a meeting and dinner, but which is of no use when called upon to take decisions.

In fact, meetings of the whole Council are a relatively small part of most members' activities, which fall broadly into two groups: liaison with constituents and local law societies, and committee work in London.Much has been made recently of the need to include more specialists on the Council.

In fact, all the specialisms referred to in the proposals made recently by Robert Sayer, the Law Society President, are already represented on the Council, some duplicated many times.

That specialist knowledge is brought to bear not only in Council debate but, crucially, in the work of the 13 specialist committees of the Law Society which deal with the detail of policy, law reform, representation and lobbying in their specialist areas.

Committees are chaired by Council members who form part of their membership, but they also include specialist non-council members and lay members appointed specifically for their expertise.

In this way, the Law Society focuses the involvement of acknowledged experts in their field, and maximises the usefulness of their contribution.

Papers are then brought to full Council to form the basis of policy.Council members also underpin the standing committees of the Law Society.

They make up the membership of the task forces and working parties currently undertaking projects for the society.

The system at Chancery Lane relies heavily on the commitment of Council members, who give, voluntarily, enormous amounts of their time (over and above their own professional commitments), often in unglamorous technical work, which is largely unseen by the profession, but which nevertheless benefits the profession in many ways.

On their home patch, Council members are responsible for maintaining a two-way liaison with their constituents and local law societies.

This, again, is time-consuming.Many of the geographical seats are not contested, and Mr Sayer suggests that fact indicates disinterest.

I would suggest that it merely highlights the scarcity of people prepared to make the commitment that being a Council member involves.

Reducing the size of the Council can only increase the workload per member.

The President's contention that the present syste m of electing members does not bring forward enough household names is considered by many to be offensive.

To elect household names for the sake of it, be they great or good, would have the effect of making Chancery Lane appear even more out of touch with the profession than it is now.The Council is currently a broad church.

Membership is open to anyone who wishes to be proposed for election.

The 14 non-constituency seats ensure representation of any groups not otherwise represented.

They also facilitate the involvement of groups such as young solicitors, who might find constituency seats too demanding but who still need to be represented.A major review of the Council can only be healthy.

Reform for the sake of it can never be worthwhile.

The current review will doubtless produce a common sense approach balancing constituency representation with professional application.

The Council will be stronger for it, and the profession will be better served.However, none of this will be practical without renewed interest and participation in the collective responsibility we all have as members of a united profession.

You may share my feeling that its reputation will be almost impossible to rekindle, unless we restore that unity.