Adopting Regulatory Objectives for the Legal Profession

76 Pages Posted: 16 Jun 2012 Last revised: 3 Oct 2012

See all articles by Laurel S. Terry

Laurel S. Terry

Pennsylvania State University, Dickinson Law

Steve A. Mark

Government of the Commonwealth of Australia - Office of the Legal Services Commissioner

Tahlia Ruth Gordon

NSW Office of the Legal Services Commissioner

Date Written: 2012

Abstract

In 2007, the United Kingdom adopted a new law called the Legal Services Act. This Act radically changed certain aspects of U.K. lawyer regulation. Section 1 of that Act identified eight “regulatory objectives” that provide the basis for the regulation of the legal profession. The United Kingdom is not the only jurisdiction that has identified regulatory objectives. A number of Canadian provinces, for example, have provisions that are tantamount to regulatory objectives. Australia is also in the process of developing such objectives and routinely uses “purpose statements” when enacting legal profession regulation. However, many countries — including the United States — have not explicitly identified regulatory objectives and do not use purpose statements.

This Article analyzes various regulatory objectives that have been adopted or proposed. It places the use of regulatory objectives and purpose statements in lawyer regulation in a broader context by describing some of the recent profession-specific and non-profession-specific regulatory reform initiatives. The Article recommends that jurisdictions that have not yet adopted regulatory objectives for the legal profession do so. Finally, the Article concludes by offering recommended regulatory objective concepts for jurisdictions to consider.

Keywords: legal services, legal profession, regulatory objectives, Legal Services Act, SRA

JEL Classification: L8, L84, K33, N70

Suggested Citation

Terry, Laurel S. and Mark, Steve A. and Gordon, Tahlia Ruth, Adopting Regulatory Objectives for the Legal Profession (2012). 80 Fordham Law Review 2685 (2012), Penn State Law Research Paper No. 12-2012, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2085003

Laurel S. Terry (Contact Author)

Pennsylvania State University, Dickinson Law ( email )

Lewis Katz Hall
150 S. College St.
Carlisle, PA 17013
United States

HOME PAGE: http://https://dickinsonlaw.psu.edu/laurel-s-terry

Steve A. Mark

Government of the Commonwealth of Australia - Office of the Legal Services Commissioner ( email )

Level 15, Goodsell Building
8 - 12 Chifley Square
Sydney, NSW 2000
Australia

Tahlia Ruth Gordon

NSW Office of the Legal Services Commissioner ( email )

Level 9, 75 Castlereagh Street
Sydney
Australia

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