“The ragged and staggered implementation among different states and territories has not helped but recent meetings at a federal and state level show there is genuine good will to finalise the process.”

The Law Council’s aim is to have all states and territories legislate by the end of this financial year. “That may be difficult to achieve,” North said, “but certainly we hope that all will have introduced the legislation by then.”

He said it makes sense for large law firms to incorporate once the national profession laws are in place nationally, but “it is hard [to incorporate] unless the states and territories harmonise the stamp duty and CGT [capital gains tax] implications involved in moving from a partnership to an incorporated entity”.

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Other areas that needed addressing included mutual recognition for professional indemnity insurance schemes and fidelity funds.