On being ambitious in regulatory change

On being ambitious in regulatory change

‘On being ambitious in regulatory change’ was a talk that I was asked to do for the online conference on ‘The Scottish Legal Services Regulation Reform Bill: what’s needed and what’s next?’ (Organised by Mackay Hannah) on 27 April 2023. I am reproducing that talk here with one added point, in square brackets, noted by…

Protection of ‘Lawyer’ and other Regulatory Reform Bits and Bobs

Protection of ‘Lawyer’ and other Regulatory Reform Bits and Bobs

Plans to protect the use of the professional term ‘lawyer’ have been unveiled as part of proposals to reform the regulation of Scotland’s legal services sector. That was the opening line in the Scottish Government’s press release of 22 December 2022 on the publication of their response to the findings of the legal services regulation…

ABS in Scotland to get Equality with England & Wales
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ABS in Scotland to get Equality with England & Wales

Alternative Business Structures (ABS) in Scotland are to get equality with those in England & Wales. This was announced on 22 December 2022 as part of the Scottish Government’s response to the findings of the legal services regulation reform in Scotland consultation analysis report [PDF]. It was also announced before the first ABS has even…

Legal Services Regulation Reform Elephant left in the Room

Legal Services Regulation Reform Elephant left in the Room

The Legal Services Regulation Reform Elephant was left in the room when the Scottish Government published, on 22 December 2022, their response to the findings of the legal services regulation reform in Scotland consultation analysis report [PDF]. Whilst the Scottish Government made much in their press release of the fact that the term “lawyer” is…

Legal Services Regulation Reform in Scotland: Consultation Analysis Reviewed – Part 5: Complaints and Redress
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Legal Services Regulation Reform in Scotland: Consultation Analysis Reviewed – Part 5: Complaints and Redress

This post, on complaints and redress, is the fifth in a series of five blog posts, each one looking at different aspects of the Consultation Analysis on Legal Services Regulation Reform in Scotland. That consultation comes on the back of the ‘Roberton Review‘, which was an independent Review commissioned by the Scottish Government in 2017…

Legal Services Regulation Reform in Scotland: Consultation Analysis Reviewed – Part 4: Business Structures
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Legal Services Regulation Reform in Scotland: Consultation Analysis Reviewed – Part 4: Business Structures

This post, on business structures, is the fourth in a series of five blog posts, each one looking at different aspects of the Consultation Analysis on Legal Services Regulation Reform in Scotland. That consultation comes on the back of the ‘Roberton Review‘, which was an independent Review commissioned by the Scottish Government in 2017 and…

Legal Services Regulation Reform in Scotland: Consultation Analysis Reviewed – Part 3: Legal Tech
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Legal Services Regulation Reform in Scotland: Consultation Analysis Reviewed – Part 3: Legal Tech

This post, on legal tech, is the third in a series of five blog posts, each one looking at different aspects of the Consultation Analysis on Legal Services Regulation Reform in Scotland. That consultation comes on the back of the ‘Roberton Review‘, which was an independent Review commissioned by the Scottish Government in 2017 and…

Legal Services Regulation Reform in Scotland: Consultation Analysis Reviewed – Part 2: The Potential Regulatory Models
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Legal Services Regulation Reform in Scotland: Consultation Analysis Reviewed – Part 2: The Potential Regulatory Models

This post, on regulatory models, is the second in a series of five blog posts, each one looking at different aspects of the Consultation Analysis on Legal Services Regulation Reform in Scotland. That consultation comes on the back of the ‘Roberton Review‘, which was an independent Review commissioned by the Scottish Government in 2017 and…

Legal Services Regulation Reform in Scotland: Consultation Analysis Reviewed – Part 1: Overview
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Legal Services Regulation Reform in Scotland: Consultation Analysis Reviewed – Part 1: Overview

Yesterday the Scottish Government published its Consultation Analysis [PDF] on Legal Services Regulation Reform in Scotland. It extends to 138 pages covering many aspects of possible regulatory reform of legal services in Scotland. It has been a long time in coming. Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2010 England & Wales have had fundamental regulatory reform since…

Atrium’s mistakes from the Horse’s mouth : An analysis
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Atrium’s mistakes from the Horse’s mouth : An analysis

I wrote a couple of detailed blog posts last year about the demise of Atrium (the Californian legal start-up that burned $75.5 million of VC funding in its short existence):  (1) Is the Atrium ‘pivot’ really shades of Clearspire? and (2) Atrium: A Post-mortem. I also took an opposite view from Artificial Lawyer about his…

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The Debate on the Review of Legal Services Regulation in Scotland (aka ‘The Roberton Rammy’)

The Debate on the Review of Legal Services Regulation in Scotland (aka ‘The Roberton Rammy’) took place on 13 February 2019. Lawyers and others interested in the future of legal services regulation in Scotland (following publication of the Roberton Review) filled the grand hall of the Royal Faculty of Procurators in Glasgow for what turned…

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Law is a Buyer’s Market: Building a Client-First Law Firm ~ Reviewed

Reading the introduction to ‘Law is a Buyer’s Market – Building a Client-First Law Firm’ by Jordan Furlong I began to wonder whether I should simply stop reading and leave it at that. This is because Jordan warns the reader that he has narrowed down the focus of his book. He was not writing for…