There are many who have been critical of the bar for being slow to respond to the challenges or opportunities presented by the Legal Services Act.Indeed, some on the other side of the professional fence may have been lulled into a false sense of complacency by this apparent inaction.

It’s true that traditionally barristers have not been renowned for their managerial or commercial expertise and acumen. It is more likely that from their historic chambers in the rarefied environs of Temple and Lincoln’s Inn, they are perceived as being removed from the commerciality of the real world.

In a way, this is as you would expect – after all they are specialist advocates not businessmen.

However, things are definitely changing. As part of my job I visit chambers and talk to their members and staff all the time.

Increasingly it is not the head of chambers or a couple of barristers on ‘paperwork days’ who I meet, but the commercial director, the business development manager, or the marketing director.

While most (though not all) are still hesitant to reveal them fully, all of these professionals have well-developed and ambitious plans for how their sets are going to move forward now the Legal Services Board has accepted the changes to the practising rules agreed by the Bar Standards Board.

And earlier this week the Bar Council published documents to be used as guidance by chambers seeking to set up a new business model – the ProcureCo - that will allow them to form companies to enable them to bid for work in competition with solicitors.

The bar seems to have not only woken up to the fact that it needs to modernise and organise itself more commercially, but it is getting on and doing it. The indications suggest that our learned friends are going to prove a force to be reckoned with, which solicitors should ignore at their peril.