There was fuss and nonsense in the press recently about the growing number of solicitors.

One article compared the number of lawyers unfavourably with that of police officers.

But growth in the number of lawyers is not a UK phenomenon alone, and has many reasons.

In order to tease them out, and on the basis that comparison leads to knowledge, I think it is useful to contrast our position with another liberal profession similar to ours, and see how we have fared, and why.

Here follows an extended riff – not an academic treatise – on some of our similarities and differences with doctors. I shall use three propositions and examine their consequences.

Proposition 1: It is cheaper to train lawyers than doctors

The number of solicitors has tripled over the last 30 years.

As already indicated, this is a Europe-wide experience, with every bar reporting an enormous increase over recent decades.

It is a particular problem for small bars in tiny countries where they are not able to cope easily with the growth.

There are now around one million lawyers in Europe.

On the other hand, there are two million European doctors. Their figures are not going up very robustly.

This is largely as a result of cost-containment measures during the 1980s and 1990s which reduced the number of new doctors by limiting medical school intakes.

From 1990 to 2005, the annual number of medical students graduating declined in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, which are among the largest EU member states.

The European Commission estimates that the gap in supply of human resources in health by 2020 will be about 1,000,000 health workers, of which 230,000 will be doctors.

Many countries will have to rely increasingly on foreign-trained doctors as the baby-boom generation of doctors retires from the profession.

These countries are sucking in qualified doctors, first from the central and eastern European member states, and then from outside the EU. This is a social problem for exporting countries, because they see no return on expensive medical training.

It is also a different movement to that of lawyers, since lawyers from the richer countries are going to richer and poorer countries alike to provide legal services.

Proposition 2: Companies need lawyers, but not doctors

This may seem obvious, but has led to a very different movement of the two professions across borders.

Following the boom in the number of EU lawyers, the UK and other European countries have been very successful in exporting legal services around the world.

It is curious that lawyers are exporters. People are always surprised at the extent of the export, because they say: ‘But the law is different in every country. How can a lawyer be exported?’

Our sophisticated societies have created legal persons in addition to natural persons.

These legal persons, which have grown into mega-giants striding the planet, are – despite their roaring and gobbling – curiously timid and conservative, and prefer to have with them their own lawyers when they travel. Out of that arises the boom in legal exports.

It also causes one of the profound differences between the modern fate of lawyers and doctors.

Lawyers follow their clients across borders, and doctors – apart from those, say, to a handful of Hollywood stars or ageing dictators – do not follow their patients.

It is bizarre, because my legal needs are different once I cross to Calais, whereas my body stays the same.

It becomes more understandable, although not fully so, when you realise that few lawyers follow clients who are individuals, but many follow clients which are companies.

Proposition 3: Lawyers’ advice and activities cannot kill their clients

Within Europe, the process of crossing borders is different for the two professions.

Lawyers are able to cross EU borders very easily as a result of our own directives.

I can temporarily cross a border and appear in another member state’s court without notifying the local bar at all. I can establish myself in another member state very simply by registering with the bar, and can then obtain that state’s legal qualification after three years.

English law firms have been successful in taking advantage of these laws, and you will find them established in many member states.

Doctors are much more nervous.

For the provision of temporary services across borders, for instance, a doctor has to lodge a declaration in advance with the competent authorities and also a pro forma registration with the local professional body.

Doctors are currently dealing with the difficult issues thrown up by the case of Dr Urbani, the German doctor whose negligence caused the death of a UK patient.

The European system – for doctors and lawyers – does not allow language tests for professionals coming from another member state, other than indirectly through oral examinations in substantive topics, but questions are now being asked about languages within the medical profession.

Further propositions could be developed, too.

There have doubtless been changing social and economic needs for doctors, but the growth in lawyers has been able to be absorbed because of the change in the UK’s – and the EU’s – economy from one of manufacturing to one of services.

Manufacturing needs walls to protect goods; services need lawyers to write and monitor contracts which have the same effect as virtual walls.

Then the growth in social protections – for instance, in the field of employment and immigration – has led to the need for lawyers in new areas.

Where does the comparison leave us? We all know that doctors and lawyers are different. So what? Maybe one should not devote energy to combat ill-informed conclusions about the legal profession in the tabloid press.

But there are complex and good reasons why the number of lawyers has grown, leading to the UK being an important exporter of legal services.

Comparison with the medical profession is a way of highlighting how our profession has taken advantage of a changing environment.

Jonathan Goldsmith is secretary general of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe, which represents about one million European lawyers through its member bars and law societies. He blogs weekly for the Gazette on European affairs