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…
CMA releases report and recommendations on Scottish legal services
On the 24th March, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) released its review and recommendations on the legal services market in Scotland. One of the key recommendations put forward in the report is that an independent body should be set up to regulate the profession, separating representative and regulatory functions. The CMA has suggested that “Separating…
Arizona set to become first state to allow ABSs
Arizona has become the first state in the US to formally file for the introduction of Alternative Business Structures (ABSs) in the US. The Arizona task force on the delivery of legal services has filed a petition with the Arizona Supreme Court which suggests eliminating rules which prevent fee sharing with non-lawyers and entering into…
Norwegian Ministry of Justice and Public Security publishes analysis of changes in lawyer regulation
Following the March 2015 report submitted by the Advokatlovutvalget (the Lawyer Commission), which suggested changes to the regulation of lawyers in Norway (Report in Norwegian available here), the Norwegian Ministry of Justice and Public Security has decided to further evaluate the recommendations. The Ministry has commissioned research consultancy Copenhagen Economics to provide further analysis on two of the…
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…
Practising As a Lawyer in a Partnership and Multidisciplinary Practice in Québec: Progress and Prospects
Abstract The regulatory framework relating to the legal professions in Québec reached a turning point in the 2000s, following the adoption of the Règlement sur l’exercice de la profession d’avocat en société et en multidisciplinarité. More than a decade later, this article examines the negotiation surrounding the drafting of the Règlement, and the various arguments…
Lawyer regulation reforms in the US
We recently reported on the work of the California State Bar and their proposals for regulatory reform put forward by the Task Force on Access Through Innovation of Legal Services as well as the work being done by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) Testing Task Force. In her article, ‘Re-regulating Lawyers for the 21st…
LSB report: ABS have had a positive impact on legal services market
The Legal Services Board’s (LSB) annual report asserts that alternative business structures (ABS) continue to have a “direct and positive impact” on the legal market. They have provided an effective structure for firms who wish to take a different approach to meeting legal need. There are now more than 1000 ABS in England and Wales. …
California prepares to lead US profession into non-lawyer ownership
Regulators are poised to consider radical rule changes that could decisively open the way to allowing non-lawyers into the legal profession of the US’s most populous state. The State Bar of California voted earlier this month to accept a report from legal academic Professor William D. Henderson calling for structural reforms to the way the…
Platform Economy in Legal Profession: An Empirical Study on Online Legal Service Providers in China
Platform economy breaks into the legal profession by pooling lawyers with different specializations into a simple user-friendly platform, consolidating the lower-tier supply side of the legal market and generating economy of scale. This paper is the very first empirical piece looking into China’s online legal service portals. It is found that, the intermediary functions of…