The single European currency is scheduled to be introduced in January 2002, with the 12 participating countries abandoning their national currency in favour of Euro coins and notes.Thereafter, the European Central Bank in Frankfurt will have sole power to set interest rates for Euroland countries.The last general election and the subsequent Conservative leadership battle showed all too clearly how deeply feelings run on the issue of a single currency, but opinions also differ in the legal world as to what effect the Euro will have on legal practices.Keith Johnson, chief executive of the Charlemagne Group, a public affairs consultancy specialising in EU regulatory and policy issues, is set to chair a panel discussion on the issue at the Law Society's annual conference in Birmingham on 27-28 October.He says: 'The primary purpose of the session is, in essence, to examine the importance of the Euro to the solicitors' profession and practice.

We will look at how things will change when dealing with corporate clients, since so many legal practices today have international links or operations.'Mr Johnson adds that the Euro is increasingly being used as a transactional currency for shares, stocks, gilt-edged bonds, in joint ventures and by companies looking to raise funds.Companies with long-standing agreements denominated in sterling may also need to have the terms revised to encompass the introduction of the Euro.Mr Johnson continues: 'There will be a natural move towards companies using the Euro as the main vehicle for business.

Any legal business -- be it intellectual property or licensing, for example -- may have a European angle to it.'Life as we know it will change incrementally.

The use of sterling will become the exception, not the rule.

We can't think in terms of translation into deutschmarks or francs any more.'We are trying to raise the awareness of the legal profession, so it will be able to cope with potential clients coming though its doors when, increasingly, European issues will come to the fore.

No-one could think that this is the most important issue in the world.

We are simply trying to raise eyes from dus ty legal tomes to examine how they will deal with the issue.'He adds that lawyers need to know what the issues are and how clients need to be protected: 'They need to be able to provide added value service to clients.

Awareness is important -- even if you are not practising in the overtly relevant areas of law from a referral point of view -- so they will know what a client is wittering on about if they come into the office all of a-quiver.'In the Eurosceptic corner of the panel will be Dr James Forder, a Fellow specialising in international economics at Oxford University.Along with Euro-MP Christopher Huhne -- with whom he co-wrote Both Sides of the Coin, a book examining the pros and cons of the single currency -- Dr Forder will appear on behalf of the No To The Euro lobby group.'I will be saying that I believe the Euro represents bad economics, which will inflict upon us bad economic policy and performance.

It will give us boom-and-bust economics with recession when it is not needed and unnecessary inflation at other times.'If there is a boom in one country but not in the rest, the European Central Bank will have to adopt a policy which caters for the average interest.

The boom country can't have the increases to the interest rates that it needs, so the boom gets worse.'Dr Forder says the poor general performance which will result from the introduction of the Euro will be bad for law firms' clients and bad for law firms themselves.He adds: 'Law firms will certainly have to keep their books in Euros and make whatever administrative changes that entails.

There is a massive dispute as to how expensive that is going to be.

Opinions vary and it is difficult to calculate.'Some estimate that the cost of introducing the Euro in the UK will run to billions of pounds.

But I am not sure we will know even after the event, because it is hard to say what was a cost directly applicable to the introduction of the Euro, and what was going to be invested in anyway, but merely had to be adapted to the circumstances of having the Euro.'Jonathan Denton, a partner in Birmingham firm Wragge & Co's financial institutions and services department, says that if the Euro is introduced in the UK, one of the biggest expenses is likely to be public education on the issue.'What is coming in January is effectively the physical currency -- the coins and notes -- although strictly speaking, we have been living with the Euro for longer than that.'He says the transitional period, whereby the Euro was first introduced into the system, began with the 'first wave' two to three years ago.

Many companies, he says, have been disappointed that, in that time, there has been little increase in the use of Euros in transactions and payments.'It's probably down to the lack of education.

One of the biggest costs will be the education programme which will be needed for companies and the public.

Very little is going on at the moment.'He continues: 'From a lawyer's point of view, one of the biggest things about a single currency -- if you are doing business in Europe -- is that you are not going to be caught by exchange rates and exchange rate volatility.

It's probably going to mean a big saving.'Victor Semmens, Eversheds' director of international practice, says: 'On a very simplistic level it will be a great pleasure not to have to have five different bags of money.

It's a complete pain in the butt.

It will make accounting a lot easier than having to run a single partnership with branches in different places which use different currencies.'At the momen t you have to convert profits into one currency -- so if, for example, you convert it into sterling, you could be very profitable in Paris one year but another year less so because the exchange rate is less favourable.

It's a fundamental problem.'Mr Denton says another big issue affecting lawyers will be the transparency of fees.

'Clients will be able to see exactly how much they are paying for services without having to do the conversion in their head.'He says this may work against law firms with high overheads and thus higher fees, because clients may revert to cheaper firms if the expertise is there.If the UK does not join the single currency, the present difficulties with exports posed by the strong pound may be compounded.Mr Denton says: 'UK goods -- and this may also apply to professional services -- are not as attractive to foreign firms because their currency is not as strong, so it costs them more to buy UK goods and services.

If we were in the Euro, it would be more of a level playing field.'Mr Semmens adds that if the UK fails to join, British businesses will be forced to carry the currency risk: 'For clients trading cross-border in Europe, it will be easier to have a single currency because the currency risk, which at the moment somebody has to take, will disappear.

Increasingly, as the Euro becomes the common currency, so the risk will be with UK providers.'He says there are fears that Frankfurt will become the main financial centre instead of the City of London.

'Most people are making sure they are properly represented in Frankfurt.'Mr Semmens adds: 'I can't imagine that law firms are not ready for the Euro in the sense that most already have Euro accounts that can receive and pay money in Euros.

The things we have to go through are quite simple.

It's not a major issue.

If the UK enters the Euro, firms will just have to change their software to account in Euros instead of pounds.'There has been much discussion on the continent of the potential for fraud when the Euro is introduced next year.

Economies -- such as Italy's -- with large black market cash industries are anticipating a glut of the outgoing lira.But countries outside Euroland also need to be cautious, says Mr Denton.

He explains: 'The Euro will probably make it easier to launder money because cross-border controls won't be there, and you will be able to move Euro cash quite freely.

Lawyers should be alive to people using Euros to front dodgy transactions -- they should treat it like any other foreign currency, that's the fact of the matter.'