The argument over the make-up of the board of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (and the Bar Standards Board) might seem somewhat esoteric to many practitioners, but it goes to the heart of the Legal Services Act reforms.

What does the controversial practice of third-party capture (or assistance, as insurers are trying to rebrand it) tell us about the suitability of insurance companies to become alternative business structures? As law firms become more commercial, will companies need to become more lawyer-like?

For those long-ish in the tooth, it will not be the first time that they have heard news of the Law Society launching an advertising campaign to promote the solicitor ‘brand’. This year’s effort – which began last week and will run for two months – promises that the public will have “380 million opportunities to see” Chancery Lane’s adverts in newspapers, various modes of public transport, televised cricket matches and online.

Little more than few hundred yards away from Green Point Stadium in Cape Town, where England play Algeria tonight, are the offices of Exigent, the company at the forefront of proving that business and legal process outsourcing (BPO/LPO) is not a purely Indian phenomenon.

The punch-up we have witnessed over the past fortnight between the Law Society, Legal Services Board and Legal Services Consumer Panel (and by the standards of this world, a punch-up is exactly what it has been) is fascinating for regulation geeks such as myself.