When I opened the Law Society’s Leadership Summit in February, I called for a debate on the future of the profession to spring up across the country. I repeated that call a few days later in the Gazette. A central theme of this debate has been the pursuit of excellence and ways in which the profession can not only meet the minimum standards that it sets for itself through the SRA, but to surpass them.

There is a great deal of work which is ongoing in this regard.

I never cease to be impressed by the great range of CPD opportunities available to solicitors. Notwithstanding that there is a strict annual CPD requirement for solicitors, there is a commercial as well as professional imperative for solicitors to plan their CPD requirements carefully and to exploit the opportunities available. We all have to go on learning, extending our knowledge and gaining new skills.

Principles of value, service and integrity are instilled very early in a solicitor’s training. The Society’s education and training committee, under the excellent stewardship of Tony King, performs a critical role in ensuring that the qualification system meets the needs of the profession and the public.

Practice makes perfectFrom September, course providers will be offering the new legal practice course to students for the first time. This is designed to allow providers considerable freedom to design and focus their course to meet the needs of specific students and particular areas of practice. It also affords the opportunity for practitioners from all fields of legal practice to inform the nature of courses offered by providers. The LPC has to reflect the needs of the profession and the changes are designed to reflect that fact. The Law Society and the SRA have jointly been running a series of workshops around the country to inform the profession about the changes to the LPC, and the committee will keep the LPC under close review.

QLTR reviewThe SRA is also continuing with its full and substantive review of the qualified lawyer transfer regulations. It is important that solicitors from outside England and Wales who wish to practise here can meet the exacting standards that we demand of home-grown solicitors, and the Society is working closely with the SRA to work towards that end. At the same time, a fair and efficient system has reciprocal benefits and is an important part of keeping global legal markets open for English law and English lawyers.

As the market and the profession both change, the profession must prepare now for the new pressures which solicitors could be facing in as little as two years’ time. Critically, the profession must maintain a sound ethical base in order to survive.

As things stand, it is newsworthy if a solicitor falls short of the exceptionally high standards that they are set, because it is so very rare. English and Welsh solicitors are in such demand and are so internationally successful largely due to this almost-unrivalled reputation for probity, integrity and independence.

Nonetheless, It would be a mistake to say that we cannot improve as a profession, and it would be equal folly to assume that we do not need to improve as individuals.

The profession is evolving fast. The next decade promises to revolutionise the legal services landscape, and from the Legal Services Act to consolidation and commoditisation, change is here to stay.

With the introduction of legal disciplinary practices and the creation of alternative business structures in 2011, the prospect of outside investment in law firms is now a reality which could ultimately lead to the listing of law firms on the stock exchange.

Should this happen, a wider question may arise as to whether a solicitor’s obligations are focused in the first instance on their clients, the court or their shareholders.

Of course, to the overwhelming majority of the profession the answer to that question is obvious, but it would be wrong to ignore the perceived tension between principle and profit. We need, therefore, to entrench good ethics in all aspects of a solicitor’s education and training to ensure that the profession remains beyond reproach.

RegulationThere has already been a marked shift in the terms of debate over regulation. At a time when many businesses and individuals fear for their financial survival, it is not surprising that the way in which the City has been regulated should be the focus of critical anxiety.

Whether we like it or not, this scrutiny is not restricted to the financial services sector. The professional services sector as a whole is under pressure to prove that it conforms to the highest ethical standards and that practitioners act within the boundaries of public acceptability.

The education and training committee has commissioned a report on preparatory ethics training for solicitors, which is available on the Law Society website. The committee is currently considering the report’s findings, but it is already providing considerable food for thought. It a very welcome contribution to the wider debate occurring across the profession.

Paul Marsh is president of the Law Society