Abstract In recent years, “regulatory sandboxes” have gained a great deal of attention from policymakers, regulators, and regulatory scholars. Regulatory sandboxes are closed testing environments in which specific firms are able to experiment with new and innovative business models or products with reduced regulatory burden or expedited regulatory decisions. Sandbox advocates support or defend regulatory…
Avatars, Acting and Imagination: Bringing New Techniques into the Legal Classroom
Abstract This project is part of an ongoing effort to build the “360° lawyer,” a concept that I came up with to capture related strands of thought I have had while teaching students in my first-year legal writing classroom. “360°,” or “whole,” or “all the way around.” These felt like the right ways to describe…
Legal Services Consumer Panel concerned about information quality
A consumer impact report launched by the Legal Services Consumer Panel in March of this year has highlighted ongoing concerns about indicators of service quality provided by lawyers. The report highlights that 4 years after the publication of a CMA report that examined the difficulty for consumers in gauging the quality of legal services before…
Law Society of Alberta consultation on model code of conduct amendments
The Law Society of Alberta has extended the deadline of a consultation on an updated model code of conduct to the 30th June. The amendments to Model Code Rule 6.3 are centred around discrimination and harassment. The draft amendments aim to provide clearer guidance on prohibitions against discrimination, harassment and bullying. This is following feedback…
Victorian Legal Service Board report shows that sexual harassment in the legal workplace is common
On April 1st Victorian Legal Services Commissioner, Fiona McLeay, released data showing that sexual harassment in Victorian legal workplaces is common, and has a disproportionate effect on women. Results showed that 1 in 3 respondents had experienced workplace harassment at some point in their career. As well as this there was a significant gender imbalance in the…
The Global RegTech Industry Benchmark Report
Abstract The first global benchmark study of the RegTech sector by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, conducted with the support of EY Japan, is based on a survey of 111 firms as well as regulators and industry experts. We estimate that the global RegTech industry generated $5 billion in revenue in 2018, and had…
Legal Serevices Board publishes collection of articles on lawtech and regulation
The Legal Services Board (LSB) has published a collection of 11 focused on lawtech and regulation as part of its ongoing work in the area. The collection, entitled ‘Perspectives on Lawtech and Regulation’ includes contributions from Chris Handford, Director of Regulatory Policy at the SRA, discussing the regulatory challenges of lawtech; Mariette Hughes, Head Ombudsman at the…
Japan Fair Trade Commission seeks comments on introduction of professional privilege
The Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) has opened a public consultation into the draft of the amendment of the ‘Rules on Reporting and Submission of Supporting Materials Regarding Immunity from or Reduction of Surcharges’, and the draft of the ‘Guidelines to the Reduction System for Cooperation in Investigation’, following the passage of new anti-monopoly laws last…
More regulatory responses to COVID-19
Following on from last month’s newsletter, we’ve put together the following list to examine different regulator responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Here it is interesting to note the development and changes, as regulators begin to get a grasp on the crisis and develop innovative responses to meet the changing environment. If you have any questions…
The Bar Standards Board publishes new equality and diversity strategy
On the 7th April, the Bar Standards Board (BSB) published its equality and diversity strategy 2020-2022. The strategy comes on the back of the Board’s report into the same topic, which suggested that whilst the situation in the profession was slowly improving more work still needed to be done. Objectives outlined in the strategy include Addressing…