The regulators of the legal profession in Canada and the Canadian government have embarked on a new chapter in the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorist activities. Late last Spring Canada’s Minister of Finance announced the creation of a joint working group comprised of representatives of the government and the Federation of…
AI-Enabled Business Models in Legal Services: From Traditional Law Firms to Next-Generation Law Companies?
What will happen to law firms and the legal profession when the use of artificial intelligence (AI) becomes prevalent in legal services? This paper addresses this question by considering specific AI use cases in legal services, and by identifying four AI-enabled business models (AIBM) which are relatively new to legal services (if not new to…
Lawyer Disciplinary Processes: An Empirical Study of Solicitors’ Misconduct Cases in England and Wales in 2015
Abstract The Legal Services Act 2007 effected major changes in the disciplinary system for solicitors in England Wales. Both the practice regulator, the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and a disciplinary body, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, were reconstituted as independent bodies and given new powers. Our concern is the impact of the Act on the disciplinary system…
Legal technology podcasts launched by LSB
As part of its mission to help legal services regulators develop approaches to technology regulation that meet the requirements of the profession and the consumer, the Legal Services Board (LSB) is compiling a bank of information resources including: research papers and podcasts created by experts in legal services and technology. Read more and access the…
New Barrister transparency rules published
The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has published new transparency rules in a revised edition of its Handbook. The new rules relate to information about the areas of law in which barristers practise, the legal services provided by barristers, the cost of services, and a client’s right to redress. This update is in response to the recommendations made…
Indemnity insurance for pro bono work
It has been suggested that the Hong Kong government could purchase a ‘Master Professional Indemnity Insurance Policy’ to cover NGOs or government departments wanting to benefit from pro bono legal services from volunteer solicitors. The current system requires any solicitor offering pro bono services in a private capacity (i.e. outside of their law firm) to seek…
Regulation of legal tech companies in Germany?
Politicians in Germany are seeking to bring in legislation which will bridge the gap between advice provided via legal tech companies and by lawyers. German laws governing the profession currently only recognise legal advice provided by lawyers, with only a few exceptions. The FDP political party is proposing the adoption of a tiered regulation model that…
SRA publishes new ‘Independent solicitor’ guidance
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is allowing sole practitioners to register as ‘Independent Solicitors’ negating the need for them to authorise their firm as a recognised sole practice. Currently close to a quarter of SRA-regulated firms are sole practitioner firms and until this regulatory change all would have needed authorisation from the SRA. However, the new…
LSB report: ABS have had a positive impact on legal services market
The Legal Services Board’s (LSB) annual report asserts that alternative business structures (ABS) continue to have a “direct and positive impact” on the legal market. They have provided an effective structure for firms who wish to take a different approach to meeting legal need. There are now more than 1000 ABS in England and Wales. …
Event: 2019 NOBC Annual Meeting
7-10 August 2019 Hotel InterContinental Mark Hopkins, San Francisco Topics include: AML, cybersecurity, re-branding regulators, dealing with vulnerable lawyers and regulating out of state attorneys. This event has now passed.