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Scotland’s larger law firms saw a rise in profits last year despite a 11% dip across the profession as a whole, research has found. The Law Society of Scotland’s survey showed that average profits per equity partner fell from £72,000 in 2009 to £64,000 last year. It is the second consecutive drop, from a high in 2008 of £104,000.

With January running out, it really is time to stop doing 2011 lists, so here is the last instalment of themes I expect to pervade Legal Futures’ coverage during this year. This time I look at legal services and the web, outsourcing in all its many guises, and the changing face of litigation practice.

Law firms and alternative business structures should not be allowed to dodge regulation by establishing separate businesses to handle unreserved work, the Legal Services Consumer Panel said this week. The panel also appeared to rebuke Co-operative Legal Services – whose stated intention is to be one of the first ABSs – for calling for freedom in how businesses choose to provide unreserved work.

It is hard to resist the journalist’s natural inclination at this time of the year to fill space with predictions for the year ahead. But 2011 is a hard year to predict – 6 October is unlikely to be the big bang so beloved of headline-writers over the years (myself included), although undoubtedly some organisations will seek first-mover advantage by making announcements that day.

The news that QualitySolicitors (QS) had bought 10,000 TV advertising slots in November was met with disbelief by my marketing director: ‘In one month? Impossible – there’d be no room for the programmes!’