Bread winners

But as I sign off my last issue, the adverse economic environment and unprecedented regulatory changes have dampened that growth.

The future of today’s trainees is likely to be very different from that of their forebears. The cost of education has risen dramatically and the 10 per cent drop in the number of training contracts last year is a sign that a career as a solicitor is no longer a given for the thousands of law students going through university.

In splitting up the Law Society, the Legal Services Act has forced solicitors to take a much harder look at what being a solicitor stands for and what solicitors offer that other legal services providers don’t.

The new regulator, the Solicitors Regulation Authority, is taking a more hands-off and even less predictable approach to its role with the deployment of outcomes-focused regulation. Soon there may not even be a requirement to undertake minimum CPD hours. Alternative routes into the profession are being discussed, which could see the introduction of a common exam at the point of entry into the profession and the arrival of new benchmarks such as ‘continuing competence’.

And if the Legal Services Board has its way, existing regulators will be replaced by a single legal regulator policing service providers on the basis of risk.

Equally dramatically, the Act has also opened ownership of law firms to non-solicitors, with the arrival of alternative business structures hailed as a potential game changer. I have never believed that ABSs were a catalyst for change and I still don’t think that they will, per se, revolutionise the market. They are not operationally much different from the fixed-priced conveyancing sheds or volume firms pre-LSA, although they are undeniably bringing a much-needed financial focus to the profession.

But the most significant risks to the profession’s stronghold are elsewhere. There are two main ones. First, accountants. They share similar professional values, are in much more regular contact with clients, and are in an ideal position to cross-sell legal services. Already, the number of solicitors working for accountants is growing – 9 per cent last year. And PwC’s move last month shows that it’s not just smaller firms that are going to be affected.

Second, the internet. The web and search engines have changed the way people interact and shop, including how they assess and value professional services. Combine this with other changes in society in the past 20 years – the accumulation of wealth in the 1980s and Gen Y’s radically different outlook on life from their parents – and you are looking at one of the biggest triggers for change. It has nothing to do with the technical excellence but it could reshape the way legal services are delivered.

Frightening? It shouldn’t be. The availability of fresh bread in supermarkets hasn’t driven bakers out of business. There’s even been an artisan-bakery revival. Most students coming out of university and qualifying as lawyers are part of this new generation. If anybody is equipped to take the profession through the next round of challenges, it’s them. Solicitors are far, far from over.

Following my departure, there will be a few changes. I am handing over management of the journal to the hugely capable Jennifer Palmer-Violet, who has been working with me for the past 15 months and has done wonders to our sister publication Private Client Adviser.

A new editor at large has been appointed and will be announced in two weeks. Until then, follow #sjguesswho at www.twitter.com/SJ_Weekly for hints. There’s even a prize for the first person to guess correctly.

Good luck to all and everyone.

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