Legal Practice
English Law Society: Referral fees "treat clients as commodities".
On Monday the 4th of July, as our American friends were celebrating Independence Day, the Law Council of England and Wales were addressing an issue that calls into question the independence of solicitors - referral fees.
Our colleagues in England & Wales have wrestled with this issue since the practice was allowed just a few years ago. It's all come to a head due to the practice of insurers’ charging referral fees to pass on personal injury cases to claimant lawyers.
Are referral fees just plain wrong?
The Legal Services Board of England and Wales is once again wrestling with the vexed issue of referral fees. Should lawyers be able to pay for clients referred to them? See the Guardian article here.
Paying for referrals is standard practice in other areas of business so why should it be a problem in the legal profession?
American Bar looks at the Ethics of Outsourcing and IT
The American Bar Association doesn't do things by half. Concerned about the ethical impacts of technology and other modern legal trends, the ABA established the "Ethics 20/20 Commission" with a wide ranging brief to conduct -
"a thorough review of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct and the U.S. system of lawyer regulation in the context of advances in technology and global legal practice developments."
05 May 2011 - LSC commences consultation on regulation of lawyer costs
The Legal Services Commissioner has invited legal practitioners to take part in the upcoming Symposium "On Costs" to be held on 19 May. In an invitation sent to the Ethics Centre, Commissioner John Briton explains:
19 January 2011 - Guidelines for flood affected lawyers
Recent floods throughout Queensland and the rest of the country have seen law practices deluged and files destroyed. The QLS Centre for Lawyers' Ethics has received many calls from practitioners seeking advice on how best to proceed in these devastating conditions.
The Centre has produced guidance on what to do in situations where current or archived client files have been lost, destroyed, or partly destroyed.
The guidance is attached below.
24 December 2010 - English Bar Council calls for prohibition of referral fees
The Bar Council and the Criminal Bar Association have released a joint statement calling on the Legal Services Board to prohibit referral fees in the legal profession.
In a forceful defence of fiduciary standards the statement says that there "can be no halfway house compromise in relation to advocacy" and that clients' rights to the best representation "cannot be allowed to be prejudiced by referral fees."
For further details see The Law Gazette article here.
Time costing under pressure
Last week's challenge to time costing by Victoria Supreme Court Judge Clyde Croft is just the latest in a growing cry for the legal profession to change the way it does business.
