On the 13th May 2020, the American Bar Association announced the formation of the Coordinating Group on Practice Forward, with the aim of providing insight on the emerging challenges and opportunities confronting the legal profession and the justice system arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. The coordination group will disseminate ABA resources as well as organise…
California Bar moves towards regulatory sandbox
The Board of Trustees of the State Bar of California took a 9-2 decision on the 14th May 2020 to form a working group to look into forming a regulatory sandbox in which innovative legal service providers would be subject to fewer regulations. This could include limiting unauthorised practice of law rules, as well as…
California Bar claims LegalMatch goes against attorney referral law
The State Bar of California attempted to sue LegalMatch on May the 4th 2020, for violating attorney referral laws. In November 2019 the California appeals court in Jackson v. LegalMatch found that LegalMatch, a service that matches clients with lawyers was a lawyer referral service (“LRS”) under California Business and Professions Code § 6155. After…
ABA and Hinshaw warn of cyber risks when remote working
The American Bar Associaton (ABA) have highlighted that when working remotely there are important considerations around privacy risks, relating to digital working that should be considered. Ruth Hill Bro, co-chair of the ABA Cybersecurity Legal Task Force, warns that “Law firms are attractive targets and the risk of cyber breaches multiplies as more employees work remotely. The…
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…
Regulatory responses to COVID-19
We’ve put together the following list to examine different regulator responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. If you have any questions or best practice for the rest of the ICLR community, please do get in touch, and we will be happy to include any of these in the next newsletter. The Nederlandse Orde Van Advocaten has…
Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers
Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers Jurisdiction: Massachusetts Country: United States of America Regulatory function: The Board of Bar Overseers and the Office of the Bar Counsel were established by the Supreme Judicial Court in 1974 as independent administrative bodies to investigate and evaluate complaints against lawyers. Further information: The Board website ICLR members:
ABA approves resolution to expand access to justice
On February 17th, during its annual midyear meeting, the American Bar Association (ABA) House of Delegates approved resolution 115, encouraging State Bars to consider innovative approaches to expanding access to justice, particularly focused around improving the affordability and quality of civil legal services. The resolution initially proposed by the ABA Center for Innovation and supported by…
Conduct Yourselves Accordingly: Amending Bar Character and Fitness Questions to Promote Lawyer Well-Being
Abstract A number of states have modified the questions on the Character and Fitness portion of their application for bar admission addressing an applicant’s substance use and mental health disorders. While some have eliminated the questions altogether, others continue to pose questions which authors and ABA members David Jaffe and Janet Stearns argue are overly…
ABA releases annual profile of the legal profession
The American Bar Association has published its annual profile of the legal profession in the US. The report uses the data gathered over the course of the year to analyse changes and developments in the profession across the country. Subjects covered include women and minorities in the profession, legal technology, pro bono, pay, legal education,…