The New Zealand Law Society has called on its members to respond to the Rules Committee’s ongoing consultation into reform in the civil dispute resolution system. The consultation is in response to new proposals put forward following concerns raised about an initial consultation paper in 2020. With concerned bodies including the Law Society. Responders shared…
Canadian Bar Association releases new resources to improve access to justice
The Canadian Bar Association has released a new guide aimed at addressing the country’s access to justice crisis. The guide has been developed by the CBS’s Access to Justice Subcommittee, based on past research, particularly the Reaching Equal Justice Report. The guide is divided into three different sections, with each section providing background to the…
The Anatomy of Consumer Legal Funding
Abstract Litigant Third-Party Funding (LTPF), where financial companies advance money on a non-recourse basis to individual plaintiffs, is a growing and increasingly controversial industry in the U.S. This funding made headlines during the NFL concussion litigation with more than 1,000 players reported to have received such advances and with class counsel raising concerns of “predatory…
Utah to be First US State to Trial Non-Lawyer Ownership
Utah has become the first state in the US to allow non-lawyer ownership of legal services providers. This month the State Supreme Court unanimously voted in favour of approving a 2-year sandbox programme which would licence new forms of legal services ownership. The move has come about in the face of continued concerns over access…
Washington State Bar Association to appeal ending of LLLTs
The Washington State Bar Association is set to seek review of the state Supreme Court’s decision to end the limited licence legal technician (LLLT) program in the state. At the LLLT board meeting on June the 8th the board decided to request the Supreme court review the decision or at least provide longer for those…
Notes on the Westminster Legal Policy Forum keynote seminar – 25th February 2020
This ICLR special report has been compiled to give members a flavour of what was discussed during the annual Westminster Legal Policy Forum, held on the 25th February 2020. The theme of the day was ‘regulation, consumer protection and responding to innovation’, with speakers drawn from across regulators, representative bodies, academia and the legal services…
Law Society of Saskatchewan amends Legal Profession Act to expand access to legal services
The Law Society of Saskatchewan has announced amendments to the Legal Profession Act, 1990, effective from 1 January 2020. The Law Society is an independent regulator with the core mandate of the protection of public interest. In 2017 the Law Society and the Ministry of Justice established the Legal Services Task Team, comprised of lawyers,…
Key findings from largest ever legal needs survey in England and Wales
A survey has been conducted by YouGov on behalf of the Legal Services Board (LSB) and the Law Society of England and Wales, looking to examine the current state of legal need across the jurisdiction. A nationally representative sample of 28,633 members of the public was consulted on 34 different types of legal issues, in order…
Law Society of Ontario technology task force releases initial observation report
In November of 2019, the Law Society of Ontario’s technology task force released their initial observations and recommendations over future regulatory approaches to tech and how it could appropriately facilitate access to justice. The Technology Task Force has been established with the aim of reviewing the Law Society’s regulatory mandate, framework, and standards to determine…
Reasonable adjustments in the provision of legal services: a report for the Solicitors Regulation Authority
The Competition and Markets Authority reported in 2016 that one of the major barriers to accessing and understanding legal services was a general lack of accessibility, particularly in how information is presented and shared. Charities such as Citizens Advice and Age UK have suggested that this is of particular concern regarding people who, due to…