The Scottish government plans to bring forward legislation to reform and update the regulation of legal services in Scotland. The proposed legislation comes on the back of a consultation undertaken in 2021 to identify areas of improvement in a regulatory system largely written in the 1980s. The consultation ran between October and November 2021, with…
The Lawyer of the Future as “Transaction Engineer”: Digital Technologies and the Disruption of the Legal Profession
Fenwick, M., & Vermeulen, E. P. (2019). The Lawyer of the Future as “Transaction Engineer”: Digital Technologies and the Disruption of the Legal Profession. In Legal Tech, Smart Contracts and Blockchain (pp. 253-272). Springer, Singapore This chapter introduces two connected arguments about the future of the legal profession . First, the ongoing “digital revolution ” will continue…
The Legal Services Consumer Panel in England and Wales has found ethnic minority clients feel they are not listened to by lawyers
New qualitative research commissioned by the Legal Services Consumer Panel of England and Wales highlights that ethnic minority consumers have lower levels of satisfaction with legal services they have received. The report also suggests ways in which they can be improved. The in-depth engagement with ethnic minority consumers shows that they want prompt, proactive and…
Board of Trustees approve options for California Supreme Court to review to extend the Provisional Licensure Programme
With the successful Provisional Licensure program due to come to an end on 31st December 2022, The California State Bar of trustees has approved 3 options for extending the programme which are to be presented to the Supreme Court. The programme, a response to the COVID-19 Pandemic and directed by the Supreme Court, has seen…
The Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System publishes new Allied Legal Professionals report
IAALS, the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System at the University of Denver, announced today that it released its new Allied Legal Professionals landscape report, along with an accompanying online Knowledge Centre. This project seeks to help standardize a new tier of legal professionals nationally, with the goal of increasing the options for…
The 2022 Law School Survey for Student Engagement finds female students more likely to participate in online law school courses
The Law School Survey for Student Engagement has found female students and students who do not identify with their gender assigned at birth are more likely to participate in classes if they are online. The LSSSE surveyed more than 13,000 law students at 70 law schools in 2022. The goal of the survey, which was administered by…
Study published into the wellness of Canadian legal professionals
The National Study on the Psychological Health Determinants of Legal Professionals in Canada has been published. The research was undertaken by a research team at the Université de Sherbrooke led by Dr. Nathalie Cadieux, with funding from the Federation of Law Societies of Canada and the Canadian Bar Association. The report attempts to fill a knowledge…
Law Society of Scotland to introduce new anti-money laundering attestation process
The Law Society of Scotland’s Anti-money Laundering team has launched a new supervisory attestation process. This new process is set to reach practices which do not fall under the scope of the AML team’s full high risk inspection process. The new process will see the selected practices provide assurances across the 36 Key Compliance Principles…
The EU Anti-money Laundering Authority will be coming into force in 2023
A comprehensively updated EU anti-money laundering policy is set to establish the EU Anti-money Laundering Authority (AMLA) as part of its plan to tighten controls on money laundering and the funding of terrorism. The EU Anti-money Laundering Authority (is one of four legislative proposals about AML) will have a direct impact on the legal profession…
The Legal Services Board of England and Wales publishes new regulatory performance framework
The Legal Service Board, the oversight regulatory of England and Wales, has published a new approach to regulatory performance. This new approach invites the frontline legal regulators to take the lead on demonstrating that they are well-led and have an effective approach to regulating in the public interest. The new approach encourages regulators to continually improve…