I've been feeling a little guilty after this week speaking on a panel organised by Vodafone and Thomson Reuters, in which I was called on to give views about the factors in the industry that hold back diversity and innovation. Guilty because, while you can dwell on the quirks and foibles of the legal profession, in general there's a lot to admire.

The odd aspect in assessing law is that it is often approached with the assumption that the profession is leagues behind other comparable industries on a host of measures. Diversity, governance, social mobility, flexible working, ethics – take your pick. It seems many believe the law is way behind the business community on all these yardsticks.

Well, on diversity there are obviously some issues, but most of the numbers I have seen over the years suggest that law is no worse than much of the corporate community, and probably better than some. It's a similar story on social mobility – there is a lot of room for improvement, but the profession's adherence to a rigidly structured career path means it is more meritocratic than some other high status careers.

As I've argued before, the myth that law firms are badly run compared to the brilliantly high standards seen in most companies is a curious thing. Governance standards have risen materially over the last 15 years in the profession.

Large law firms are, in the main, either now very well run or at least competently overseen (the UK is a shining beacon in this regard – leadership standards are well ahead of other legal markets). And you only have to glance at the fundamental governance problems that have plagued public companies to think that the often-derided partnership model still has a lot going for it.

Ethics? Judging large law firms at least, they come out well compared to accountancy or banking, from what I've seen. And increased transparency in the profession over the last decade has made firms less inclined to take morally questionable decisions in the hope that no-one will find out. And on a basic level, law is a liberal profession – you rarely see homophobia or overt sexism.

Some of the criticisms levelled at City law firms, such as the long hours culture and the failure to retain women, are primarily driven by the demands of a model based on very high remuneration rather than complacency. Careers offering sky-high rewards will always make huge demands, so perhaps the problem with the flexibility debate is that it largely skirts over whether progress would require earnings to come down and the pie to be shared a little more widely.

None of which justifies the familiar claims made that law is some kind of backwater in the business community that should be grateful for any wider attention. There's a lot to be proud of.