The good news for probate practitioners is that 500,000 adults die annually in England and Wales.

The bad news is that less than 200,000 of those deaths lead to a grant of probate or letters of administration being extracted by a solicitor.Nor is it comforting to learn that these figures have remained fairly static over a five-year period during which time there has been a steady increase in the number of DIY grants - now running annually at nearly 50,000.

Bearing in mind that 90% of all 10,000 solicitors' firms in the country state that they handle probate work, these figures do not suggest that the probate fee-earner in the average firm is swamped with work.

There is some evidence too that estates are getting smaller as people live longer and exhaust their assets.The pantomime season will be with us soon and, having set this darkened, gloom-laden stage for you, from the right wing enters the Lord Chancellor in his role as Fairy Godmother.

A wave of his wand conjures up the Ugly Sisters in the guise of the approved probate practitioners.

Yes, the Lord Chancellor's Christmas present to the beleaguered profession will be the introduction of the Approved Probate Practitioner Regulations.

These will enable insurance companies, building societies and banks to apply for probate, even in cases where the institution is not the appointed executor.

The regulations will also permit members of other approved bodies to extract grants.

Licensed conveyancers and accountants are two likely examples.Churchill defined a pessimist as someone who sees a calamity in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every calamity.

If the profession is to meet this challenge to a previously privileged field of work, solicitors must act positively to seize every opportunity to promote their services.

The first such opportunity is make a will week 1994 - commencing Monday 17 October.

The best form of defence is attack.

The best source of securing probate instructions in the future is to make many more wills and, whenever appropriate, to secure executorship appointments for your firm.

If you have been reticent in the past about participation in what one solicitor described to me as the 'undignified scramble' of will week, then examine carefully whether you can afford not to suffer a slight loss of dignity, rather than the loss of your probate practice.A 1994 Gallup survey showed that of the members of the public who have made wills, 15% chose the DIY route compared to 11% in 1991.

In contrast, the survey showed that the solicitors' pre-eminent share in the wills market fell in that same period, which has also seen the progressive growth of unqualified will writers and of the services offered by newspapers - the Daily Telegraph's willmaker service has prepared over 7000 wills in the past three years.

The first will week was in 1991 when I had the task of introducing the cartoon character, Will Power, to a somewhat startled profession.

He has served his purpose in supporting the efforts of the Law Society, some local law societies and over 4000 individual firms to increase public awareness of the need to make a will and he has been successful in lifting some of the morbidity which causes so many to shy away from the subject.Will Power has been retired for the 1994 campaign although solicitors who have grown attached to him can continue to use him in their own publicity if they wish.

New poster designs and publicity materials have been circulated recently to all firms and it is hoped that many more than the 4000 which have supported the campaign in the past will do so actively this year.

If you decide to advertise, ensure that the word 'solicitor' is featured prominently.

The Society is promoting features supported by advertising in local newspapers across the country and has endeavoured to ensure that only advertising by solicitors will be accepted in support of these features.

Being specific about price has been shown to reassure the public and can be an effective form of advertising.

However, the harsh lesson of cut-price conveyancing should dissuade us from only seeing competition in the shop windows of other solicitors.

Many will writers charge at least £50 for a single will.

The Daily Telegraph's service costs £47.95.

Banks are no cheaper.

Many of our competitors also extract significant sums for storage.The Law Society staged a series of probate roadshows earlier this summer.

They were better attended even than the conveyancing roadshows which preceded them, in itself a measure of the recognition by the profession that a new era is dawning for probate practice.A consistent theme that emerged at each venue was the realisation that wills, trusts and estate administration must be treated as the specialism that it is.

In the face of highly organised competition, the practitioner who 'does a bit' of probate as and when he or she can spare the time from other more pressing client work is not doing him or herself or the profession any favours.

Similarly, it was argued, we must de-skill, delegate and charge appropriately for the administrative aspects of the work.

Use make a will week 1994 as the starting point for a new strategy for your firm designed to develop and promote your wills and probate practice over the next five years.

How will you market? How will you reorganise? The Law Society has committed itself to a much higher profile campaign for will week 1995 to boost the efforts which the profession must make during the coming year to demonstrate to the public that solicitors remain the people to trust with their will instructions and as their executors.What calamity? I see only opportunities.