Legal Ethics around the World (3/23)

This interview gives an interesting look at lawyering in Gambia.    . . .     This article at the Human Rights Watch site discusses the need for the rule of law and an independent judiciary in parts of Pakistan, in light of the system's failure to redress an alleged gang rape.  The author complains, "These judges are meant to dispense justice without any training in judicial ethics and conduct, interpretation and application of the law, or even the basics of judgement writing. And they lack the staple of a proper judiciary: independence from the executive."    . . .     Big, structural changes are afoot in for the Law Society of England and Wales.  As part of the reforms, the Society is separating its roles in regulating and promoting the profession, as was recommended by a government task force.  To add independence to the regulatory process, the Society is seeking a broad base for its oversight boards. 

"The Consumer Complaints Board will oversee the handling of complaints about solicitors.  It will have a non-solicitor chair and eleven other members, the majority of whom will be non-solicitors. The Regulation Board will govern the Society’s other regulatory activities including rule making, legal education and investigations into suspected misconduct.  It will have sixteen members with a solicitor chair, eight other solicitor and seven lay members."    . . .   

At the same time, the Society is urging the government to crack down on "unregulated, rogue legal advisors."  The expected reforms will permit a proliferation of legal service providers, including public ownership and corporate ownership of legal providers.  This seems predictable if we view the profession as negotiating with the state for a "regulatory bargain" that will protect the profession's income and social standing.  It was apparently necessary as a political matter for the Society to loosen its grip on the regulatory function, and now that the reforms are opening up legal services, the existing professionals are insisting on regulation aimed at quality control for the new providers of legal services, but which also could have the effect of reducing competition and shoring up price.  It appears that the UK legal profession is losing a significant degree of "social closure."

UPDATE:  Law.com is carrying this article on the reforms, which will open up the profession more than I realized.  It might make for a great laboratory for structural changes in the US.  If citizens in the UK start getting fleeced -- or if they start getting affordable legal services -- we might draw different conclusions in the US about whether or not the reforms should move across the Atlantic.  The ethicalesq. (David Giacalone) has been covering these reforms at his blog.