In a revolutionary moment for the legal profession, the deregulation of legal services is taking hold in many parts of the country. Utah and Arizona, for instance, are experimenting with new regulations that permit nonlawyer advocates to play an active role in assisting people who may not otherwise have access to legal services. In addition,…
Evidence-based lawyer regulation
The legal profession is losing its authority over the regulation of legal services. Recent changes in antitrust law have put state bar associations under a spotlight. Competition from technology companies and concerns about access to justice have increased political pressure for market liberalization. Independent research is challenging the unique value of lawyers’ services, even in…
A study by The National Association of Law Placement in the US has found black and Latina lawyers remain unrepresented at partner level
The National Association of Law Placement has conducted its 2022 Report on Diversity in Law Firms. The report highlights the “excruciatingly slow” progress for black and Latina lawyers at partner level across the US. Currently these two groups each make up less than 1% of all partners in 2022. Conversely, women in general now make…
American Bar Association propose amendments to Model Rules of Professional Conduct
The Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and Committee on Professional Regulation has produced a third discussion draft of possible amendments to the Model Rules of Professional Conduct. These possible changes aim to clarify lawyer’s obligations on client due diligence. This comment period has been influenced by the previous two drafts and the public comments…
Lawyer Wellbeing as a Crisis of the Profession
The legal profession is in the throes of a mental health crisis. State bars across the country continue to be rocked by the tragic loss of their lawyers to suicide and accidental drug overdose. Recent studies have also shed further light on the severity and scale of lawyers’ long-recognized struggles with depression, anxiety, substance abuse,…
How Should We License Lawyers?
During the summer of 2020, anger and frustration about lawyer licensing practices boiled over. The bar exam had always imposed economic and psychological burdens on test takers, but the rise of a pandemic added an additional hazard: exposure to a dangerous virus. Some states continued the in-person traditional exam despite the health risks, but others…
The Politics of Lawyer Regulation: The Case of Malpractice Insurance
This article examines the politics of lawyer regulation and considers why some states will adopt lawyer regulation that protects the public, when others will not. It uses the debates over how to regulate uninsured lawyers as a lens through which to examine the question. Clients often cannot recover damages from uninsured lawyers who commit malpractice,…
The Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System publishes new Allied Legal Professionals report
IAALS, the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System at the University of Denver, announced today that it released its new Allied Legal Professionals landscape report, along with an accompanying online Knowledge Centre. This project seeks to help standardize a new tier of legal professionals nationally, with the goal of increasing the options for…
The 2022 Law School Survey for Student Engagement finds female students more likely to participate in online law school courses
The Law School Survey for Student Engagement has found female students and students who do not identify with their gender assigned at birth are more likely to participate in classes if they are online. The LSSSE surveyed more than 13,000 law students at 70 law schools in 2022. The goal of the survey, which was administered by…
The Evolution of Professionalism as a Mode of Regulation: Evidence from the United States
Opinion is divided on how far and in what ways professionalism as a mode of regulation has evolved. To date, attention has focused on the impact of neoliberal political and economic ideologies that challenge the idea that professions should be trusted to regulate themselves. This article further examines the impact of these attacks on professionalism…