Stephanie Villinski, Deputy Director of the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism, has released her take on improving lawyer well-being, based on ‘The Future Is Now: Legal Services conference’, which is the Commission on Professionalism’s annual future law event. Ms. Villinski reflects on the fact that many of the changes that can have the greatest…
Bar Standards Board publishes independent review of 2020 qualifying exams
The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has published the results of an independent review of the August 2020 Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) exams, the exams used by the Board as part of the qualification process for barristers. The review was commissioned by the BSB in November 2020 and was conducted by Professor Rebecca Huxley-Binns, the…
Law Society of Scotland survey finds support for increased use of remote civil hearings
A newly released survey of Scottish solicitors, by the Law Society of Scotland, has found that more than three-quarters of respondent think that aspects of remote civil court work should continue post-pandemic. The results found that the majority of civil court practitioners have indicated that they think remote hearings work well for procedural and uncontentious…
Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System releases guides to cut through bias in legal hiring and improve legal education outcomes
The Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS), has released two new guides designed to explain innovative ways for legal educators and legal employers to implement data-driven, outcomes-based standards underpinned by IAALS’ Foundations for Practice research. The guides are based on a survey of 24,000 lawyers and working sessions with 36 employers and 4…
Auckland High Court consultation on reform of civil dispute resolution
The New Zealand Law Society has called on its members to respond to the Rules Committee’s ongoing consultation into reform in the civil dispute resolution system. The consultation is in response to new proposals put forward following concerns raised about an initial consultation paper in 2020. With concerned bodies including the Law Society. Responders shared…
American Bar Association data shows increase in bar passage scores during the pandemic
New bar score data from the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, released on the 23rd of April 23, showed an increase in the scores compared to 2019 on both the ‘ultimate’ pass rate and for first-time takers, with the aggregate score of law graduates taking the exam for the first…
Nigeria Bar Association launches survey on technology and globalisation
Following the creation of the Future of Legal Practice Committee, by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), which was recently established with a mandate of facilitating significant improvement in the quality and standard of legal services rendered by legal practitioners. The NBA has now launched a survey of all its members collating the views of both…
ICLR Conference 2021 – Online, 28 September – 1 October
ICLR 2021 – Registration is Open The 10th Annual International Conference of Legal Regulators will take place virtually on September 28-October 1, 2021. This four day-long virtual experience will consist of online sessions and networking events specifically created to advance the vital work of legal regulators around the world. ICLR 2021 delegates can anticipate a…
Singapore and Uzbekistan sign memorandum of understanding on legal cooperation
On the 22nd of April, Singapore’s Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law, Mr K Shanmugam SC, and Uzbekistan’s Minister of Justice, Mr Ruslanbek Davletov, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Legal Cooperation. The signing took place at the Tashkent Law Spring, an annual legal forum, held in Uzbekistan. The MoU provides a…
Event: Redesigning Legal: Leading from the Bench—Expanding Access through Regulatory Innovation
June; 9, 2021 Online The access to affordable legal services and access to justice crises are growing, yet there remains a sizeable gap between what real-world data tells us and the expectations of and understanding of those in the legal profession. Moreover, new approaches and new technology offer some solutions, but they are not widely…