The Bar Council chairman fears an increase in trivial cases

The Lord Chancellor has commissioned an inquiry into the proposal.

Stephen Irwin QC, chairman of the Bar Council, told the body's annual conference that the move would fuel a US-style compensation culture.

The risks of "criminal or terrorist control" of legal firms were obvious, he also said.

The former deputy governor of the Bank of England, Sir David Clementi, has been commissioned to investigate whether ministers should allow outside ownership of law firms.

Mr Irwin said that was the "best possible recipe" for creating a compensation culture and could even lead to corrupt and criminal influences within legal firms.

He said what might be less obvious was the risk that even perfectly respectable business ownership of law practices may present.

That would come through business enterprises seeking to generate demand for the product, he said.

'Trivial disputes'

He told the Bar's annual conference at Lancaster Gate, London: "Demand will be generated in areas where people might otherwise be stoical - the more trivial, the more questionable disputes.

"We already have a few daft but sometimes well-publicised decisions based on the misplaced fear of litigation, usually generated by over-cautious or indeed frankly foolish insurance advice.

"Who wants children to be told to put on a crash helmet before they get on a swing?

"If you don't want that kind of folly, then don't commercialise the law - leave it as a profession."

Mr Irwin said that, if the government allowed the move, commercial objectives would become "paramount" to the disadvantage of proper consideration of the value of individual cases.

Sir David set out a variety of proposals for "multi-disciplinary" practices and legal disciplinary practices in a consultation paper in March.