Forget the McCanns, the inquest into the death of the Diana, Princess of Wales, or Heather Mills’s outburst against the media. The real story in recent days is the arrival on the statute book of the Legal Services Act which has received Royal Assent. Dry as it sounds, this piece of legislation heralds a revolution in how legal services will be delivered to the public.

This week, too, an advertisement will appear in The Sunday Times for the chairman of the Legal Services Board. The body will be the first over-arching independent and publicly accountable regulator of the whole legal profession — as well as anyone else providing legal services from claims handlers to notaries, licensed conveyancers to will-writers.

The appointment is key: the person chosen must balance protection of the consumer against ensuring that red tape does not stifle diversity or sufficient competition to ensure access to legal services. And after a hard-fought battle by the Bar, the appointment will also be subject to consultation with the Lord Chief Justice — ensuring that the profession that provides the judges is not subject to overriding state control.

So lawyers will no longer regulate themselves: the act removes the old touchstone or definition of a profession — self-regulation. But the new board will act as a light-touch regulator, delegating to front-line regulators such as the Bar and the Law Society, and crucially, the chairman will be a non-lawyer — with power to enforce high standards, monitor how different parts of the profession are being regulated and ensure consistency.

The running sore of the the solicitors’ profession in the past decade, handling complaints, is also overhauled. This was probably the chief stimulus to legal reform — the weight of MPs’ postbags from disgruntled clients ensured change would come about. So the Act creates a new independent ombudsman service and an Office for Legal Complaints with a single-entry system for all consumer complaints about legal services. The idea is to simplify the present complex and diverse set of arrangements between different branches of the profession.

But as crucial are new powers paving the way for one-stop shops. The Act enables lawyers to set up in business together — with each other and also with non-lawyers. And they will be able to seek outside investment or ownership: Tesco or M&S law is around the corner.

Or is it? To most law firms, all this is a blip on the horizon. But some have been keenly inquiring as to when their trusted accountant or legal executive can be made a partner.

They need not hold their breath. The chairman of the Legal Services Board may be advertised this week but the appointment is unlikely until next year — nor the board members. The Office for Legal Complaints is unlikely to be empowered to handle complaints until autumn 2010. What about lawyers and (25 per cent ) non-lawyers setting up shop? According to Alison Crawley, who monitored the Legal Services Bill for the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the body that now regulates solicitors, this will not happen before spring 2009. That will enable firms to take on board existing employers who are working in their practice and to whom they want to give partnership status.

As for the full-blown “alternative business structures”, allowing lawyers to form partnerships with outside professionals or invite outside investment, that, she predicts, is unlikely to be until at least 2011 or — more likely — 2012. Meanwhile, the Bar is still consulting on whether to allow its members to become partners in law firms — and remain as practising barristers. If it does, it can hardly set its face against barristers setting up partnership with each other.

So the new landscape of the legal profession is some way off: the new regulatory bodies have to be set up, appointed and create their rules and procedures. Most law firms are not even thinking about it. One law firm notably issued a press release welcoming the new act — Irwin Mitchell. Michael Napier, senior partner, said: “The Solicitors Regulation Authority must swiftly set up the mechanism to allow us to take in to partnership non-lawyers and other professionals who make a huge contribution to a modern law firm like ours.”

Equally urgent, he says, are the reforms to allow the one-stop shops with other professionals. “If we have to wait the reported three years before alternative business structures can be set up, we and the professional generally risk being left behind.”

If he is concerned, many are not. Much of the profession has not yet woken to the change on the horizon. But the old day are gone. At its simplest — and perhaps most symbolic — a couple of solicitors will no longer just be able to put up a brass plaque stating that they are in business: Sue Grabbit & Co, Commissioners for Oaths. They will have to fill in forms and apply to be licensed. There will be more red tape than ever. Hopefully, though, the public will get a better choice of legal service.

Times Recommends

• BGC 'set aside £40m to lure Tullett brokers'
• Legal aid review to ensure value
• Fears as 21 magistrates' courts face closure