This book examines the ways in which common law countries such as England, Australia, and Canada have modernized their regulatory environments for legal services. It critiques stagnant regulation practices in the US and offers a blueprint for effective regulation of legal services to ensure affordable and accessible civil justice for all citizens.

Most people understand that regulations have a direct bearing on their access to things such as clean air and water and safe working environments. However, in the United States, few people make the connection between how legal services are regulated and how difficult it is for them to access legal services. Indeed, on the question of affordable and accessible civil justice, the World Justice Project ranks the US 94th out of 113 countries, behind Albania, Belarus, Myanmar, and Russia. For decades academics and others have debated whether the legal profession is self-regulated and, if it is, whether it should be. But is it the right debate? Self-regulation—or not—does not obviate the need for effective regulation. Independent, accountable, and transparent regulatory bodies, effective oversight of those bodies, the genuine engagement of citizens in the regulatory process, evidence-based research to fully assess the impact of regulation, and an approach to regulation that is proportionate and targeted to actual risks are essential for effective regulation. Through the lens of the adoption of alternative structures, this book explains how England, Wales, and Australia have, by embracing these essential elements, successfully modernized their regulatory environments for legal services, and how Canada has taken firm steps down its own path to the same. In contrast, by rejecting these elements, the United States remains paralyzed in an unproductive regulatory environment for legal services. This book provides a blueprint for how the US can take inspiration from its common law sisters to breathe new life into its regulatory environment for legal services. Ultimately, modernization will require more—and better—regulation that is financed publicly through equitable, progressive revenue sources.

This book is a worldwide survey of legal aid containing more than seventy responses from ministries of justice, attorney generals, law societies, bar councils and individual lawyers to a detailed questionnaire. The results, set out here in summary form, are probably the most complete survey of its kind since the Lane and Hillyard edition of the Directory in 1985. The Editor of The New International Directory of Legal Aid, former legal aid solicitor Peter Soar, says: `In preparing this new edition I have learnt from previous users that the Directory is a valuable aid for Legal Aid Boards and law schools as well as individual lawyers.' In these pages you will find the ground work of legal aid systems in some of the most diverse legal jurisdictions from the Common Law countries of England and the Commonwealth to those which employ the approach of the Napoleonic Code. Here are systems adapted to the needs of the inhabitants of Caribbean islands, central European and Baltic states, emerging African peoples, the successors to ancient Indian empires, and countries of the Pacific Rim. The different forms of legal aid are of interest to practitioners and academics but the claims of the book go further than that. Just and fair societies depend on the maintenance of the rule of law. If the legal system, and in the last resort, the courts themselves are not within the reach of all citizens then talk of their rights is empty. If poor, weak, or powerless members of society are denied access to the courts because of lack of means, or if that access depends on the willingness of some lawyers to undertake cases pro bono, it is difficult to argue that in that state human rights are any more than forms rather than reality. If lawyers themselves exchange their independence for involvement in the very process of litigation (so-called `no win, no fee'), can it be said that freedom is not compromised? Here the reader can judge what in his or her opinion is the standing in these debates of each of the jurisdictions surveyed, with the help of editorial comments and the Editor's Introduction.

This note explores the interactions between new technologies with key areas of commercial law and potential legal changes to respond to new developments in technology and businesses. Inspired by the Bali Fintech Agenda, this note argues that country authorities need to closely examine the adequacy of their legal frameworks to accommodate the use of new technologies and implement necessary legal reform so as to reap the benefits of fintech while mitigating risks. Given the cross-border nature of new technologies, international cooperation among all relevant stakeholders is critical. The note is structured as follows: Section II describes the relations between technology, business, and law, Section III discusses the nature and functions of commercial law; Section IV provides a brief overview of developments in fintech; Section V examines the interaction between technology and commercial law; and Section VI concludes with a preliminary agenda for legal reform to accommodate the use of new technologies.

This collection explores developments in the regulation of legal services by examining the control of the markets in several key countries and in jurisdictions within countries. The contributions consider emerging adjustments in regulatory structures and methods; examine the continuing role, if any, of professionals and how this may be changing; and speculate on the future of legal services regulation in each jurisdiction. The introductory and concluding chapters draw together similarities, differences and conclusions regarding directions of change in the regulation of legal services. They consider the emergence of alternatives to professionalism as a means of regulating legal services and some implications for the rule of law.