Lawyers have been dealt a blow after the High Court dismissed a petition seeking to quash a section of the law that prevents them from fixing prices without seeking approval from the competition watchdog. High Court judge Hedwig Ong’udi backed the law that requires professional bodies like the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) to get…
England and Wales regulators launch new customer review pilot
A joint pilot project has launched by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC), CILEx Regulation (CRL) and the Bar Standards Board (BSB), under which regulated law firms have been invited to help develop meaningful quality indicators, which will aid potential clients when choosing their legal service provider. The exercise has…
Protecting and Promoting Competition in Response to ‘Disruptive’ Innovations in Legal Services: OECD Background Paper
Abstract Despite traditional resistance to change in legal professions, pro-competitive “disruptive” innovations are beginning to transform legal services and the manner in which they are delivered. Online service delivery is allowing both legal professionals and unlicensed providers to serve clients remotely while taking advantage of the scalability of digital platforms. In addition, ranking and review information regarding legal professionals is becoming increasingly accessible, and…
Lawyer Licensing and Competence in Alberta
The Lawyer Competence Committee (LCC) has been working with legal analyst, Jordan Furlong, on a report and recommendations for lawyer licensing and competence in Alberta. The report was approved by the Committee at their Bencher meeting on December 3rd 2020. Work is now underway to prioritise the recommendations, as well as consider resourcing, timelines for…
UK Competition and Markets Authority to research Scottish legal services market
The Competition and Markets Authority has issued the following press release regarding its impending research into certain aspects of the Scottish legal services market to support the Scottish Government’s response to the Roberton Review. The following release was published 17 June 2019. This work has been prompted by the Roberton Review, an Independent Review of…
Help for Singapore lawyers to venture overseas
Earlier this year the Ministry of Law (MinLaw), the Law Society of Singapore (LawSoc) and International Enterprise (IE) Singapore launched a new programme to help Singapore lawyers and law firms venture overseas. Called “Lawyers Go Global”, the programme will connect Singapore legal expertise with global opportunities, through overseas mission trips, training, and branding and marketing. The…
EU Regular Economic Report: Growth, Jobs and Integration: Services to the Rescue
The EU Regular Economic Report (RER) is a periodic publication of the World Bank Group and covers economic developments and prospects, as well as economic policies in the European Union. The report focuses on four regional sub-groups that share broad economic similarities (see map): Central Europe comprises Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania,…
Report on regulation and productivity in Europe’s professional services markets
Europe has had a persistent low growth problem over much of the past decade, exacerbated by the severe economic contraction triggered by the financial crisis, when EU GDP fell by 4.5% in 2009 alone. Since then, the European economy has been characterised by low growth rates, stubborn unemployment and stagnant productivity. According to European Commission…
OECD: Protecting and promoting competition in response to ‘disruptive’ innovations in legal services
This document was prepared by the OECD Secretariat to serve as an issues paper at the 61th meeting of the OECD Working Party No. 2 on Competition and Regulation (13 June 2016). This paper introduces recent disruptive innovations in legal services markets, as well as the overarching trends giving rise to them. The role for…
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…