This paper investigates the issue of online and automated dispute resolution from a law reform and regulatory perspective. It argues the growing prevalence and capabilities of online dispute resolution has created both opportunities and risks for consumers and for dispute resolution policy in New Zealand. In particular, the significant risk of harm occurring if the…
Regulating Bot Speech
Abstract: We live in a world of artificial speakers with real impact. Chat bots befriend children in order to acquire marketing data. Robotic telemarketers laugh at the suggestion that they are not real. Russian social media bots foment sufficient political strife to merit a spotlight in Congressional hearings. Concerns over bot speech have led prominent…
Legal Deserts: a Multi-State Perspective on Rural Access to Justice
Abstract: Rural America faces an increasingly dire access to justice crisis, which serves to exacerbate the already disproportionate share of social problems afflicting rural areas. One critical aspect of that crisis is the dearth of information and research regarding the extent of the problem and its impacts. This article begins to address that gap by…
Netherlands Bar Association launches research into innovation and digitalization in the legal profession
More than 1,300 lawyers participated in the recent NOvA survey on strategy, innovation and digitization. The results will be published after the summer. The survey is part of a broader investigation into developments affecting the future of the legal profession in the Netherlands, which the NOvA is expected to complete by the end of this year. Changes…
Bar Standards Board shares good practice for barristers and advice for clients on consumer feedback
The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has today published new guidance that aims to encourage barristers to follow good practice when they receive feedback from their clients. It has also published a guide for the public about using and leaving feedback about barristers’ services. Along with the other legal regulators, the BSB was asked by the Competition and Markets Authority…
New York City Bar Association E-Discovery Working Group publishes guide on cross-border e-Discovery
SUMMARY The New York City Bar Association’s E-Discovery Working Group issued a report examining the challenges of conducting discovery when the scope of discovery exceeds US borders. The Committee lays out the most common circumstances in which cross-border discovery would occur, including issues of personal jurisdiction over foreign parties as well as cases of US subsidiaries of…
Bar Standards Board explains how it assures competence at the Bar
Following its decision last year not to implement the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA), the Bar Standards Board (BSB) has today published more detail about how it assures the competence of barristers. The approach reflects the BSB’s move in the last few years to become a more risk- and evidence-based regulator that takes better targeted action to maintain…
SRA consultation on protecting the users of legal services
The SRA has launched a consultation on “Protecting the users of legal services: balancing cost and access to legal services”. While most people are happy with the service they receive from solicitors and regulated law firms, things can and do go wrong. It is crucial that the public can trust that when things go wrong…
The Law Society of Scotland launches price transparency consultation
The Law Society of Scotland is asking the legal profession and consumer bodies for their views on price transparency for legal services. The consultation, Price transparency – promoting consumer choice, aims to stimulate discussion within the legal profession and among other stakeholders, including consumer-interest groups, and is seeking views on the benefits and challenges of…
Solicitors Regulation Authority publishes research on trainee salaries
The SRA has released a new impact assessment looking at the deregulation of the prescribed SRA minimum salary for trainees. In 2014, the SRA removed the minimum salary levels for trainee solicitors. The previous levels of prescribed salary were replaced with a requirement for trainees to be paid at least the national minimum or living wage,…