Should Hong Kong's law firms have the right to sell shares on the stock market? A debate is raging among scholars, lawmakers and lawyers themselves. Countries such as Australia have allowed a few law firms to list. Britain and the United States have debated for years ways of opening up their legal professions to competition and innovation. Why shouldn't retail investors have the right to share in lawyers' good fortune (and high fees)? In our recent paper in the Law Society journal, Hong Kong Lawyer , Ajay Shamdasani and I looked at the potential benefits of allowing law firms to list. We calculate that the top 25 firms in the city would have a combined market capitalisation of more than US$8 billion. Such a capitalisation would add depth to Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing and encourage openness. Lawyers and the law serve the public. Yet, we cannot see their books or deliberate on their strategies, or vote on the economic power they wield. Lawyers - by design - are accountable only to themselves. By selling shares, we could finally pierce the "partnership veil". Such a move could also prove lucrative. Australian-listed Slater & Gordon's share price has trebled since 2008. Such a return is far more than returns on a Standard & Poor's index on a risk-adjusted basis. In our article, we predict a roughly 100 per cent increase in demand for lawyers in Hong Kong, at a time when the "lawyer bubble" in the US and European Union has caused significant turbulence in lawyer hiring and revenues. If shareholders had the chance to take part in this expanding sector, the money they invested could help Hong Kong law firms scale up to meet expanding demand. Depending on the way one sees future demand for lawyers, stock-driven lawyer hiring could increase revenues at law firms by US$5 billion and add US$24 billion to the capitalisation of this still non-existent market. Of course, listing could not apply to the entire profession. Law firms that help litigate murder cases, cases of public interest and various kinds of civil law get very distorted by the corrupting incentives of shareholding. Special rules would be needed to govern the conduct of listed firms. Hong Kong, by allowing limited experimental listings, might open the way for other cities to follow. As a global financial centre, it also clearly needs new ways of financing global law firms. Hong Kong could shape that debate for years to come - if the Law Society's council has the vision to shake up the status quo. Dr Bryane Michael is a senior fellow at the University of Hong Kong law faculty's Asian Institute for International Financial Law