In my time as a Bencher I have striven to keep in mind the notion that at its heart the legal profession is "a nation of shopkeepers."

As much as large national and international law firms have risen in prominence as a response to a global economy, it is still the sole practitioner and the small law firm that attends to the day-to-day needs for legal services of the average Canadian. A few statistics serve to demonstrate the point. At the Law Society we define a small firm has having two to five lawyers. As of early November 2008, there were 5641 lawyers in Alberta in private practice i.e. not working in-house or for some level of government. Of that number, 1285 are sole practitioners and 1200 practice in small firms and another 843 practice in firms with six to 15 members.

Small firms and sole practitioners are a vital part of the access to legal services for ordinary Canadians. These firms tend to do residential real estates, family law, wills and estate, and criminal law work for the middle class. Small firms and sole practitioners tend to be the lawyers who enroll on the Legal Aid roster and thus

provide the critical support to the criminal justice system.

Smaller firms and sole practitioners face unique challenges in the operation of a law firm. On the business side, a sole practitioner or small firm may have less insulation from shifts in the legal economy. In the recent boom times, for example, the shortage of and increasing expense of administrative staff coupled with dramatic increases in other overheads such as office rent presented unique challenges to lawyers in small firms. When the economy turns the other way, smaller firms have little margin for error in their business choices.

This issue of the Advisory focuses on the issues of small firms and sole practitioners and provides information on the resources available at the Law Society. As regulator serving the public interest, we are cognizant of the needs of and the risks to those lawyers who work independently or in groups of two or three. We expect to be considering further initiatives in the near future.