2018 Conference Preview: Defining quality and competence in legal services

Defining Quality and Competence in Legal Services


Synopsis

The session will touch upon the way the quality of the profession is benchmarked, assessed or measured. How do the different jurisdictions do this (if at all)? For example, do we merely go by the number of complaints received? Are there new “disruptive” tools available such as a “TripAdvisor”? type system to rate professionals and what are the downfalls of this? Furthermore, ways will be discussed in which different jurisdictions are seeking to raise the quality of the profession.

Speakers

Joan Janssen began her legal career as a practising lawyer. Over the course of her legal career, she worked for Singaporean and international law firms in Singapore and in London. She joined the Singapore Ministry of Law in 2013 where she is now Director-General of the Legal Group, and concurrently Director of Legal Services (“DLS”) under the Legal Profession Act. As DLS, she heads the Legal Services Regulatory Authority in Singapore.

Paul Philips took up his post as Chief Executive of the Solicitors Regulation Authority of England and Wales on 1 February 2014. He was previously the Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Operating Officer of the General Medical Council (“GMC”) where he was responsible for leading all corporate work programmes, as well as delivering all the organisation’s core regulatory work. Prior to becoming the Chief Operating Officer at the GMC, Paul led the GMC’s medical ethics and disciplinary functions reforming fundamentally the way in which the organisation conducts its business in these areas.

Stephan Göcken has been with the German Federal Bar since 1995, first as Director, then Executive Director since 2005. He was previously a legal advisor with the German Bundestag in Bonn and the European Parliament in Brussels.


Why is this session of particular interest and to whom?

This session should be of interest to all legal regulators as the quality of legal services impacts the public as well as the standing of the legal profession.

What particularly do you hope to explore in this session?  Any specific questions you hope to answer?

We hope to gain a better understanding of how regulators in diverse jurisdictions approach the issue of quality. We hope to explore what new models are being created and attempted.

What do you hope to achieve with this session?

Learning from the experiences of the various jurisdictions (i.e. what legal regulators in the various jurisdictions are doing or will do to measure and enhance the quality of the legal profession, and what they hope to achieve with the data), increased understanding of the issues.

What is the setting of your session? 

The session will include a poll, brief presentations by the panelists, round table discussions, followed by an open mike discussion between the panelists and the audience/participants.

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