A ‘state of the industry’ research project unveiled this week should kick off an era of “frank and open” debate, according to the profession’s new watchdog.

In a bundle of essays produced on behalf of the Legal Services Board (LSB), leading commentators put forward the arguments on how the future of the sector should be shaped.

Launching the compendium at a conference on Monday, Chris Kenny, chief executive of the LSB, said: “The LSB has made a commitment to evidence-based policy, and this applies not only to our regulatory decisions but also to the role we play in identifying long-term, strategic challenges facing the sector – as well as their solutions.

“This new publication will play a major role in forming a clearer view of what the future holds for legal services providers. I am delighted we have created a platform for these distinguished commentators to contribute to our understanding of that future.”

The research, entitled ‘The future of the legal services – emerging thinking’, features ten essays by academics, commentators and practitioners, assessing areas of the industry that are poised for revolution.

Focusing on the LSB’s pet projects, alternative business structures (ASBs) and risk-based regulation, the study sets out how law firms should modernise to keep up with what is described as the increasingly ‘commoditised’ profession.

In ‘Training the lawyer of the future’, Professor Stephen Mayson from the Legal Services Institute writes: “At the heart of the qualification process should be the needs of clients.

“Their decisions to buy legal services are the demand that drives the nature and volume of those services.”

But the LSB insists the research is intended as a starting block from which the debate should take off.

In another contribution, Professor Mari Sako, from the University of Oxford’s Said Business School, stresses what the future holds is still in the hands of the practitioners.

Professor Sako writes: “Several futures are possible and the eventual outcome depends largely on the decisions taken by the legal profession. But remember the old adage ‘run with the gazelles but eat with the lions’. That combination of the abilities to move fast and at the same time to identify where the value chain will be protein-richest will be key. Law firms, take note.”

The Future of Legal Services conference took place on Monday 14 June at the Clore Management Centre, Birbeck College, London.