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Ali Malek,QC, of 3 Verulam Buildings, is also "upbeat", in his words, about the Bar's future. The profession, he predicts, will survive not only unscathed but unchanged by the shake-up in the legal services market.

He believes that the challenge in his sphere of practice is to make litigation cost-effective and reasonable and keep the attractions of London as a centre to litigate. But he says: "I see barristers doing more international work. The current structure will continue. Commercial barristers will not become partners, even if the rules are relaxed to allow this. London will remain a leading jurisdiction to resolve disputes. "

In five or ten years' time, the Commercial Bar will look the same, he says, although he concedes: "It is possible that there will be more mobility between solicitors (doing advocacy) and barristers." However the Bar will remain the place, he believes, for those "who want to specialise in advocacy".

What do others think? We asked whether the Bar needs to re-invent itself to survive changes taking place now and likely over coming years in the legal services market and public funding. And if so, how?

Robert Elliott, global head of banking at Linklaters, says: "We see a significant amount of litigation arising out of the financial crisis and the recession, particularly the collapse of Lehman [Brothers, the investment bank]. The commercial and insolvency bars will prosper in that respect. Those that specialise in employment work will also do well, for obvious reasons."

Andrew Arden, QC, a housing law specialist: "The Bar needs to cast off wigs and gowns and other arcane, archaic and/or elitist trappings and establish itself in the eyes of the public as the only high-level specialist source of expert advocacy and advisory services at law, available to everyone and anyone." This should be done through a "multiplicity of different — and modern — arrangements, whether direct access partnership between themselves, partnerships with others, sole practitioner and othewise, as may suit different areas of activity and offer prospective clients genuine choice."

Ian Kelcey, head of criminal law at Kelcey and Hall: "The Criminal Bar will have to reinvent itself to survive the changes imposed by the legal aid cuts. I have no doubt those changes have brought the criminal justice process to the brink of disaser; they had nothing to do with improving the process, they were merely about cutting costs. We now run a real risk that the criminal bar as we know it will cease to exist and unless they can operate within a much more integrated system with solicitors, solicitors will do more and more advocacy in house. In the main, clients will be happy — as they will find they meet the advocate who will turn up at trial, rather than a last minute substitute."

Bertie Leigh, a specialist in medical negligence and senior partner of Hempsons: "The Bar is certainly in for a rough time and they have done little to help themselves — taking on flashier premises and ever larger overheads in an attempt to look more like solicitors. The days when a client would pay for two lawyers to do a job are drawing to a close, and they are increasingly being threatened by the inhouse advocacy departments of large firms.

"The acute problem, though," he adds, "is that the Bar is part of an industry in long term decline. Litigation has priced itself out of the market for most clients." Barristers, he says, should cut overheads so they can "provide a service at a price people are pepared to pay"; shrink "so they are an elite" and "prove their spurs before they put up their plate — most should not go to the Bar until the have done five years as solicitors." Finally they should cut the cost of litigation. "At the moment the Bar looks llike tailors who all charge Savile Row prices and wondering why almost everyone wears jeans!"

Jan Luba, QC, of Garden Court Chambers and "legal aid barrister of the year 2007": "It is importanat that the Bar seizes the opportunities provided by new business structures in the legal services market. We need to show that we can think a decade ahead and put in place now the arrangements our customers will eb wanting to sue over the coming years. The health of the barristers' branch of the profession will be measured by how flexible and innovative it can be in adapting to a more challenging and customer-orientated environment."

John Hendy, QC, head of chambers at 10-11 Bedford Row: "The Bar is living in a bubble unaware of the full import of the Legal Services Act 2007. The changes to the structures of legal businesses will destroy the independent Bar within the next 30 years. Big firms are beginning to absorb leading barristers and some chambers will take on solicitors and form partnerships which will become indistinguishable from solicitors' firms . . . leaving only a rump of self-employed barrisers in independent practice.

"Barristers will ultimately go the way of the Serjeants-at-Law at the end of the 19th century and cease to exist. This will be a tragedy for British justice since access to the best advocates will diminish and the incredibly high ethical standards and robust fearlessness of most current members of the Bar may well evaporate."

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