Trends and Challenges in Lawyer Regulation: The Impact of Globalization and Technology
24 Pages Posted: 16 Jun 2012 Last revised: 3 Oct 2012
Date Written: 2012
Abstract
The articles in the 2012 Fordham Symposium on Globalization and the Legal Profession address a number of specific issues that have arisen as a result of globalization and technology. But it is also possible to frame in a much broader fashion the challenges facing the legal profession and its regulators. Because lawyers around the world are subject to many of the same globalization and technology forces, similar issues now arise in multiple locations around the world. Accordingly, one can now speak of common “trends” and challenges in lawyer regulation as regulators around the world scramble to respond to similar developments.
This article identifies six different types of challenges facing contemporary lawyer regulators and some of the regulatory trends that seem to be emerging in response to these issues. As the article notes, across the globe, there have been changes in the “who-what-when-where-why-and how” of lawyer regulation. The article identifies each of these types of changes so that the legal profession and regulators can anticipate these changes and learn from each other's experiences. This article also provides the introduction and context for the authors’ longer Symposium article which focuses on Regulatory Objectives for the Legal Profession, which is a recent development designed to answer the “why regulate” question.
Keywords: legal services, legal profession, co-regulation, ex ante regulation, regulatory objectives, globalization, outcomes based regulation, virtual practice
JEL Classification: L8, L84, K33, N70
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation