The Scottish government plans to bring forward legislation to reform and update the regulation of legal services in Scotland. The proposed legislation comes on the back of a consultation undertaken in 2021 to identify areas of improvement in a regulatory system largely written in the 1980s. The consultation ran between October and November 2021, with…
German Regulator brings in Federal Lawyers’ Act (BRAO) reform
The BRAO reform came into effect on August 1st and will alter more laws than just the Federal Lawyers’ Act. The new BRAO no longer primarily focuses on the individual professional, but assumes that the professional training company is the central organizational form. these central organisations must take our organisational insurance. This means that the…
Arizona Supreme Court grants first ABS licence
Law company Elevate has been granted an Alternative Business Structure (ABS) license by the Arizona Supreme Court, making Elevate and its affiliated law firm, ElevateNext, a single entity. This makes Elevate the first non-lawyer-owned law firm in the United States. In 2020 Arizona became the first state to remove the prohibition of non-lawyers owning law…
The Bar Standards Board of England and Wales has welcomed the new sanctions guidance announced by the Bar Tribunals and Sanctions Service
The Bar Standards Board of England and Wales has welcomed a new sanctions regime brought in by the Bar Tribunal and Sanctions Service. The new sanctions will be used by Disciplinary Tribunals and by the BSB’s Independent Decision-Making Body in deciding what sanctions to bring against barristers found to have committed professional misconduct. The new…
The legal Aid Board in the Netherlands is to begin a subsidy scheme experiment for divorce cases
The legal Aid Board in the Netherlands will begin a subsidy scheme experiment for complex divorce cases. The scheme will begin in February 2022 with the aim of uncovering how best to assist litigants in complex divorce cases, with a view to providing high quality legal aid assistance after an appropriate fee has been agreed….
The Young Lawyers’ Committee and the Women in Practice Committee of Singapore are working to develop a workplace harassment prevention policy
The Young Lawyers’ Committee and the Women in Practice Committee of Singapore currently working in tandem to develop a key policy to address work place bullying. The harassment prevention policy is to be rolled out amongst Singapore law firms at some point next year. It comes on the back of the Law Society of Singapore’s…
The Legal Services Board of England and Wales has launched a consultation on its draft business plan and budget for 2022/23
The Legal Services Board of England and Wales business plan is an attempt to push forward its goals of reforming the legal sector to better serve the consumer and deliver fairer outcomes, stronger confidence and better services. The proposed new strategy includes financial protection arrangements, consumer redress and the rule of law and regulation. Key…
The Legal Services Regulatory Authority of the Republic of Ireland is opening a public consultancy for the new profession of Conveyancer
The Legal Services Regulatory Authority is inviting interested parties to make written submissions ahead of a report to the Minister of Justice in relation to the creation of a new profession of conveyancer in Ireland. The consultation pages, available through the link below, outline the type of submission, including suggested topics, the Legal Services Regulatory…
WTO negotiations on domestic services regulation have concluded successfully in Geneva
67 WTO member delegates participated in the Joint Initiative on Services Domestic Regulation, which aims to reduce administrative costs and create a more transparent environment for services providers to operate in when conducting business in foreign markets. This initiative marks the first set of rules governing service regulation in nearly 25 years. The trade agreement…
The Bar Standards Board of England and Wales has published its regulatory decision making annual report
This is the second report of its type by the Bar Standards Board since the way regulatory decisions were made was reformed. The report finds that between April 2020 and March 2021 the number of reports and applications for exemptions substantially increased. This coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic. The Bar Standards Board has increased proactive…