THE film Pretty Woman features one scene sympathetic to people dissatisfied with their lawyer. The female star guesses the profession of the male lead. She decides he is a lawyer because he has ''that sharp, useless look about him''. His retort is that she has clearly ''known a lot of lawyers''.

Fortunately for people with learning disabilities, Colin McKay falls into the category of a sharp and useful lawyer. Now celebrating his tenth year as the first lawyer employed by Enable, the national, campaigning, and service-delivery charity for those with learning disabilities and their families, he knows delivering a legal service is just as important as being a systematic campaigner - for his 150,000 clients in Scotland need imaginative and informed solutions to their problems just as much as they need campaigns to change laws allegedly designed to protect them.

McKay had a choice between medicine and law and opted for the latter to protect patients. He worked in private practice and then for a local authority before deciding to focus on public policy and social welfare law.

McKay knew public perception was a big problem since people with learning disabilities were viewed as ''terribly unfortunate, very demanding, and essentially having a life not worth living''. He now notes with some satisfaction that there is a growing understanding they lead full and rewarding lives.

He set up the law firm Enable Legal Services, which specialises in areas where there is a lack of expertise, such as special education and rights to community care. Knowledge among lawyers was patchy and often applied to stop people from exercising basic human rights, such as entering into fulfilling, loving relationships. Draconian powers were excused on the pretext they protected vulnerable people, usually women, from being exploited. His casework resulted in a ground-breaking book Sex, Laws, and Red Tape which has achieved a more liberal interpretation of the legislation.

In a recent address to the Royal Faculty of Procurators he raised a problem which predates his arrival at Enable - the desperate need for an Incapable Adults Bill, which will help thousands of adults with impaired ability to make binding decisions. He reasons the lack of legislative progress is because ''very few decision-makers realise the beneficial effects of legal change''.

The launch of an alliance of 40 Scottish voluntary and professional organisations to promote the Bill earlier this year means few will remain ignorant of the benefits for long. The Alliance includes the Scottish Head Injuries Forum, Alzheimer Scotland, and the Mental Welfare Commission.

McKay remains surprised that so few voluntary organisations in Scotland have established legal departments since the benefits are quite diverse. He was appointed to the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland in 1996 and hopes the link with Enable will strengthen the commission's ability to protect people with learning disabilities.

His future strategy includes developing the training given to other solicitors so they might assist clients directly and he is at pains to point out his work should not be regarded as in competition with other lawyers. ''Fundamentally we are about delivering better legal services whatever the provider - a community law centre or private practice.'' Also, he intends to shift the delivery of legal services more towards people with learning disabilities themselves rather than to their families.