This discussion paper focusses on entity regulation, compliance-based regulation, and alternative business structures. It reviews experiences in Canada, Australia, England and Wales, and the United States of America. The paper suggests that there is a gap between the regulatory frameworks of the three states and the requirements of the current legal services market. The discussion…
Why Your Jurisdiction Should Consider Jumping on the Regulatory Objectives Bandwagon
It has become increasingly common to find jurisdictions adopting an explicit and succinct statement of the goals they are trying to achieve when they regulate lawyers. The first example was the 2007 UK Legal Services Act, which set forth the regulatory objectives that the Act — and its implementation — should achieve. The form that such adoption…
The case for proactive management-based regulation to improve professional self-regulation for US lawyers
This article argues that the American Bar Association (ABA) should recommend, and the state courts should adopt, proactive management-based regulation (PMBR) programs to supplement the existing complaint-based systems of professional discipline. The article discusses the New South Wales program, highlighting the requirement that incorporated legal practices designate Legal Practitioner Directors, and non-adversarial collaboration between regulators and…
The Role of Ethics Audits in Improving Management Systems and Practices: An Empirical Examination of Management-Based Regulation of Law Firms
Using management-based principles, this Article discusses steps to take to encourage ethics audits ‘to merge good ethics and good business’ in the United States of America. For decades, legal malpractice experts have urged lawyers to implement risk management measures, and legal malpractice insurers have provided audit services and self-audit materials. Under the Australian regulatory regime,…
Setting Standards: The future of legal services education and training regulation in England and Wales
Legal Education and Training Review The review was jointly undertaken by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), the Bar Standards Board (BSB) and the Institute of Legal Executives Professional Standards (IPS). It was intended to be the most substantial review of legal education and training since the publication of the ‘Ormrod Report’ (Report of the Committee on Legal…
The legal needs of small businesses 2015 survey
Large scale quantitative survey of the experiences of 10,528 small businesses, showing the origin of legal problems that they face and their strategies for dealing with these problems, including where they seek advice and their experiences of doing so. Read the report on the LSB website
Higher Demand, Lower Supply? A Comparative Assessment of the Legal Landscape for Ordinary Americans
Comments on the lack of data available, provides a summary of a US household legal needs study in 1994 where 50% of households experienced one of more legal problems annually. Of those with legal needs, 37% of the poor sought assistance from a third-party for resolution of the problem, 29% from a specifically legal third…
Innovations in the provision of legal services in the United States
In a report for the RAND Corporation, Neil Rickman and James M. Anderson present a framework for examining legal sector innovation in the United States. This framework is to aid policymakers in understanding the likely effects of innovations and the role of regulation in promoting or deterring innovation. RAND Corporation. “Innovations in the Provision of Legal Services in…
Irrational behaviour as a rationale for regulation
Should regulators intervene on the ground that it’s for the consumer’s own good, even if the consumer doesn’t know it? In the Journal of Policy Analysis & Management, a series of articles puts the pros and cons of this approach, which seeks to intervene to address “costs we impose on ourselves by taking actions that are not in our…
Costs of regulation in England and Wales
The Legal Services Board found little evidence on the costs of legal sector regulation, so in late 2014 it surveyed the regulated community and in 2015 it commissioned a study of the incremental costs of regulation – those incurred to comply with legal regulation. Categories of regulatory cost in the studies include: Requirements to…