I was ill just before Christmas, which is not a good time to be off for various reasons. I will not bore you with the details but it was unpleasant. However, it gave me a chance to get up to speed on the mysterious world of daytime television. Most of the advertisements are for people who, well, put simply, are stuck at home. There are plenty of advertisements offering advice on the various ailments that persons of a certain age are likely to suffer - mostly toilet related.

There are also lots of advertisements for making claims of different types of claims. I expected that but not the number of different claims firms. I could not tell which were solicitors and which were another breed of claimers. I am sure they are fine upstanding firms in many ways but they all look the same and have similar sounding names. If you have had an accident, or been mis-sold something how does the victim decide which one to use?

Fortunately I recovered to enjoy more festive television, which in the lead up to Charles Dickens’ anniversary featured lots of Dickensian lawyers. Grim-faced men with lots of facial hair, quill pens and simpering clerks. How things have changed. We now have computers not quill pens.

My point, if you were wondering, is that the public’s concept of lawyers is either claims firms or Great Expectations. An exaggeration I know but there is some truth in it. Doctors have exciting, glamorous programmes about emergency units; even vets get a better press curing cuddly animals. Which brings me to resolutions. Scrooge in A Christmas Carol vowed to live in the past, present and future.

So those are my resolutions. Firstly the past: I will prepare for Christmas better next year. I will give more time, write cards, see people and all the rest. I know I will not but I ought to. I will also enjoy the heritage we have as lawyers. We have a history of service and occasionally as a profession, firms, or as individuals, get it right and make a difference to someone’s life.

I will live in the present. I will plan better and work efficiently. I will say 'no' when faced with a client asking me to handle a case in an area I am unfamiliar with. I will know what is going on, what is in colleagues' in-trays, filing cabinets etc. I will encourage an atmosphere of openness. Yes, dear reader, you do all those things now.

I will live in the future. I will think how IT, whatever that is, can help. I will ponder about what services the public want. I will encourage youngsters to enter the law if they really want, not because it is a quick route to fame and fortune but because it is a great profession.

David Pickup is a partner in Aylesbury based Pickup & Scott