by Des Hudson, chief executive of the Law Society

This year settled the final legislative steps for what is fast becoming a new legal landscape.

Next year the ripples of this change will continue to be felt throughout England and Wales, including across Kent.

That is not something to be afraid of. The thriving legal services market means that Kent's legal sector and wider business community all have a major role to play in helping UK plc develop stronger commercial links with the rest of the world to help drive and support economic growth.

The Law Society must be a catalyst for the positive aspects of this change. We are embarking on a process of reorganisation and restructuring to ensure that we continue to offer an exemplary level of support and service to all our members.

At the start of 2011 we launched the Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) to support our members who were feeling the financial pressure of reduced property transactions and the difficulties of belonging to lenders' panels. This has been expertly steered by Law Society Council Member for Kent, Jonathan Smithers.

In less then a year CQS has helped to change the home-buying market for the better, with more than 1,000 CQS firms in England & Wales, and I am pleased to say there has been a particularly strong take up in Kent. The CQS accreditation acknowledges the rigorous application process firms have to undergo and the high standards of professionalism and excellent customer care that CQS accredited members offer clients during the conveyancing process.

Quality marks such as CQS or the practice management standard, Lexcel, will become even more important for our members during 2012 as the effects of Alternative Business Structures (ABS) is seen. In an increasingly crowded and competitive market consumers are going to want to place their trust in a firm that stands-out from the rest.

Nobody, including the Law Society, knows for sure what effects ABS will have on the legal services market in 2012 but we can take an educated guess.

Inevitably there will be opportunities for law firms in Kent who may benefit from greater investment to help them grow and innovate but undoubtedly it does mean that there will be greater competition.

Neither should firms regard ABS primarily as something "which will be done to them".

Although we do not know what type of business models or strategies will gain the most prominence over the coming year, one would expect entities, whatever their make-up or funding to seek out the most efficient and advantageous way of operating for themselves.

This means that while there will be greater opportunities all law firms should take the opportunity to ask themselves "what is the most efficient business model for us" and deliver more innovative ways of providing services, think about varied funding for their firms, work collaboratively with new partners and seize the initiatives in delivering excellent customer service.

I am confident that the future remains bright for solicitors who do this.

People and businesses will always want their legal matters to be dealt with by knowledgeable professionals with consumer guarantees who have a duty to put their clients' interests before their own.

Kent has a strong legal sector with an excellent network of active and independent local law societies who are working with us to help shape a positive future for the local and national legal services market.