Episode 40 - The New Legal Industry Regulatory Regime – Who’s regulating whom, how and why?

In our evolving legal ecosystem, who should be regulated, by whom, how and why? These are critical and pivotal questions being considered and addressed (or not addressed) by legal regulators around the world right now? They are complex questions. The answers to them will almost certainly be different in different places. There are many things to be considered and balanced, not least of which is ensuring that consumers of legal services/products are adequately protected but, at the same time, making sure that protection does not decrease their access to legal service providers. So, what's the new role of the legal regulator in all of this? That’s the question Terri Mottershead, Executive Director, Centre for Legal Innovation (Australia, New Zealand and Asia-Pacific), posed to an international panel of legal regulators from Australia and the USA in this podcast on The New Legal Industry Regulatory Regime – Who’s regulating whom, how and why? Terri was joined by:

• John R. Lund, Attorney at Law, Parsons Behle & Latimer (USA)
• Jennie Pakula, Manager, Innovation & Consumer Engagement, Victorian Legal Services Board + Commissioner (Australia)
• Lynda C. Shely, Owner/Attorney, The Shely Firm, PC, Arizona (USA)
• Jason Solomon, Executive Director, Center on the Legal Profession, Stanford Law School (USA)

Topics discussed included:

• In our evolving legal ecosystem, what’s driving regulatory reform?
• What has been/is the focus of that reform?
• What’s the new role of the legal regulator in all this and do they lead or follow?
• Can they/should they encourage experimentation and innovation in legal service/product delivery?
• What’s the link between legal innovation and regulatory sandboxes?
• And how do we move this important discourse forward so we don’t get left behind?

John, Lynda, Jason and Jennie, thank you for being willing to lead and contribute to experimentation and change – this is an important discussion at a critical time for the global legal world - bravo!

If you would prefer to watch rather than listen to this session, you’ll find the video in our CLI-Collaborate (CLIC) free resource hub here.