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…
Ontario Attorney General Doug Downey reveals new legal regulation strategy
Ontario Attorney General Doug Downey has unveiled Bill 161, which is designed to both implement Legal Aid Services Act, as well as amending the Law Society Act. The act is designed to ease the regulatory burden, as well as creating some accountability from lawyers. Some of the proposed changes include: raising maximum fines for lawyers to…
The implications of AI on legal regulators and how they can use it
At last year’s ICLR Annual Conference in The Hague, ICLR member came together to present on the implications of AI on legal regulators and how they might harness this technology to their advantage. Panelists drew from input from ICLR members and how their own institutions were engaging with Artificial Intelligence, as shown in the infographic…
Transparency lies at the heart of Consumer Satisfaction
In January, the Legal Services Board (LSB) of England & Wales released its Regulatory Performance: Transitional Assessment Review looking at the transitional assessment of each legal services regulatory body against the LSB’s regulatory performance standards. The report found that it had “sufficient assurance that the regulatory bodies have met the minimum required level of performance…
Indiana professional rules limit lawyers’ speech about judges
The Indiana Lawyer has released an article tackling one of the legal sector’s most contentious issues – Rule of Professional Conduct 8.2(a), which governs lawyers’ speech about judges. Lawyers, it seems, don’t want to address the topic for fear of being perceived as speaking critically of the judiciary, while judges seemingly don’t want to discuss situations…
Event: 2018 Legislative Drafting Conference
13-14 September 2018 The Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice is hosting its bi-annual Legislative Drafting Conference – “Charting Legislative Courses in a Complex World”. The Conference will tackle one of the most pervasive challenges in modern legislation: complexity, beginning with its principal drivers in public policy. Why does our world generate legislative complexity? And…
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…
Regulating Law Firms from the Inside: The Role of Compliance Officers for Legal Practice in England and Wales
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…
Regulation tomorrow: what happens when technology is faster than the law?
In an age of constant, complex and disruptive technological innovation, knowing what, when, and how to structure regulatory interventions has become more difficult. Regulators find themselves in a situation where they believe they must opt for either reckless action (regulation without sufficient facts) or paralysis (doing nothing). Inevitably in such a case, caution tends to…
A step closer to law firm regulation in British Columbia
The Law Society of British Columbia is considering regulating law firms for more efficient and effective regulation. At their meeting on December 8, 2017, the Benchers* approved the recommendations of the second interim report of the Law Firm Regulation Task Force as amended at the meeting and resolved to initiate them through a pilot project that will be…