If nothing else, the recent launch of Halsbury's Law Exchange, a new think tank, is proof of the extent to which thought leadership is all the rage in law these days.

The LexisNexis-backed venture, which includes Slaughter and May's Nigel Boardman among its contributors, is billed as an attempt to draw the public into a politically-neutral debate on the role of law in society. That's no easy task, as most comparable attempts have floundered amid a sea of self-regard and legal jargon, but it appears that there are no shortage of those up for the challenge.

For one, The Guardian has recently launched an online law section which has been sold among much high-minded rhetoric. To cynics the move has rather more to do with sticking it to Rupert Murdoch given that The Times, the traditional newspaper of the profession, has just put its legal section behind an internet pay wall. But The Guardian has been a proven innovator online and there will be much attention on whether the paper can replicate its rightly celebrated niche in media coverage, where it combines the hard-nosed voice of the industry insider with a broad appeal to general readers.

Executing that would certainly take the paper head to head with The Times, which has in recent years added more industry edge to its traditional strength on the legal affairs beat, but as yet that balance is eluding the new pretender.

But this battle to intellectually connect with the profession is far from confined to traditional media. The College of Law set up its think tank, the Legal Services Policy Institute, to address the legal services market. A special mention in this fast-expanding field should go to the website Legal Futures, a fresh take on the topic of regulation and, er, de-regulation (you can tell that words are my business) from journalist Neil Rose.

Perhaps more significantly, recent years have seen an explosion in legal commentators, often blogging or using social media to get out distinctive views. Many are awful – some are fantastic. The quality ones can vary as widely as Adam Smith, Esq, which provides a lively take on the business of law, and the legal columnist Jack of Kent, who Halsbury's Law Exchange should bone up on if they want to get the attention of any non-lawyers. There are also some excellent practice-specific blogs emerging. I find myself increasingly turning to such voices to encounter fresh thinking.

Even some consultants are getting the hang of this thought leadership thing, with a new report from Jomati landing on my desk this week, the latest in a series of thoroughly-researched pieces of work. It looks like the profession – and the journalists that cover it – will have to get used to drawing on a more diverse range of ideas. Legal Week will investigate more in future.