Following the Legal Services Act 2007, which permitted the delivery of legal services through Alternative Business Structures (ABS), the Solicitors Regulation Authority required all regulated legal service firms to appoint Compliance Officers for Legal Practice (COLPs). COLPs are charged with taking reasonable steps to ensure that firms comply with their obligations, which entails interpreting what…
Initial Report to the Minister of Justice and Equality on MultiDisciplinary Practices
This report, produced by Hook Tangaza, was commissioned through McDowell Purcell Solicitors by the Legal Services Regulatory Authority (“the Authority”) in Ireland. It is intended to assist the Authority in fulfilling its obligations under section 119 of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015 (“the Act”). Section 119 requires the Authority to make an initial report…
Alternative Business Structures for Lawyers and Law Firms: A View from the Global Legal Services Market
From a global perspective, the composition of legal practice components is undergoing tumultuous change. The concept of multidisciplinary practice has been embraced in many countries, where lawyers partner with non-lawyers and offer both legal and non-legal services. Less well received are alternative business structures, where lawyers and non-lawyers are permitted to be partners, and outsiders…
The Integration of Law into Global Business Solutions
Using a unique data set comprised of original research of both the corporate websites of the Big Four — PwC, Deloitte, KPMG, and EY — and their affiliated law firms, as well as archival material from the legal and accountancy press, this article documents the rise and transformation of the Big Four legal service lines…
Focus on… ABS investment activity
A major aim of the introduction of alternative business structures (ABS) in England and Wales was to allow new forms of capital into regulated law firms to improve market efficiency. Enabling external investment in law firms was designed to allow less reliance on short term sources of financing such as personal debt and overdrafts. The…
Adopting Law Firm Management Systems to Survive and Thrive: A Study of the Australian Approach to Management-Based Regulation
In Australia, amendments to the Legal Profession Act require that incorporated legal practices (ILPs) implement ‘appropriate management systems’ to assure compliance with the Legal Profession Act 2004, and appoint a legal practitioner director to be responsible for the management of the ILP. The new law did not define ‘appropriate management systems’ (AMS) so the Office…
Regulating Law Firm Ethics Management: An Empirical Assessment of an Innovation in Regulation of the Legal Profession in New South Wales
The Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) was the first jurisdiction to fully deregulate law firm structure and allow alternative business structures. At the same time it required that incorporated legal practices implement ‘appropriate management systems’ for ensuring compliance with professional ethical obligations. This paper presents a preliminary empirical evaluation of the impact of…
Trends in global and Canadian lawyer regulation
This article examines Canadian lawyer regulation in light of the global trends challenging regulators worldwide. It explains why it is important for Canadian lawyers, regulators, clients, and other stakeholders to be aware of these global trends. The article also addresses the issue of whether these trends matter in a jurisdiction such as Saskatchewan that is not a…
Innovating Regulation – Prairie Law Societies discussion paper
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…
Innovation in legal services
The Solicitors Regulation Authority surveyed 1,500 organisations and concluded: Alternative Business Structures (ABSs) have succeeded in promoting innovation and diversity; ABS Solicitors are 13-15 per cent more likely to introduce new legal services. Solicitors are, on average, more innovative than other regulated legal services organisations in terms of both managerial and organisational changes. 80 per…