| Description |
14 pages ; 25 cm |
| Contents |
1. Introduction -- 2. Recommendations -- 3. Background and supporting information -- 3.1. Relationship between State and national regulation -- 3.2. A national practising certificate for lawyers -- 4. The next stage -- Appendix 1. Terms of reference for COAG Legal Service Subgroup -- Appendix 2. Terms of reference for work referred from COAG to Standing Committee of Attorneys-General (SCAG) regarding reform of the legal profession -- Appendix |
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3. Complaints and disciplinary systems: best practice principles -- Appendix 4. Terms of reference for a study on the reservation of legal work -- Appendix 5. Terms of reference for a commissioned study on issues relating to lawyers' business arrangements |
| Summary |
4. A national scheme should be established which allows a practising certificate issued in one State or Territory to be accepted in all others without further admission protocol -- 5. COAG supports moves to market-based measures for establishing the price of legal services. Fee scales, where adopted, should not be used to set prices in the market. Full disclosure and voluntary fee agreements are important elements of reform in this area. These reforms should be introduced in conjunction with the removal of restrictions on advertising. COAG supports those contingency fee arrangements which will increase access to the justice system, including uplife fees. Plain English fee agreements are also strongly supported, along with independent review of fee agreements and outcomes -- |
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6. COAG support the general principles developed by the NSW Law Reform Commission so as to establish harmonised, fair and efficiently administered compalints systems -- 7. The determination of the exact boundaries of legal profession work requires far more detailed consideration than has been so far undertaken -- 8. COAG agrees that flexible business arrangements are an important feature of a more responsive legal service market. In particular, combined practices such as multidisciplinary partnerships may reduce transaction costs, particularly in the corporate sector where commercial requirements include a sophisticated mix of professional skills |
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8. cont... However, some states have concerns in regard to the question of limited liability, given the costs that this might impose on consumers, and in regard to other consumer risks relating to multidisciplinary partnership -- 9. Rules requiring lawyers to obtain indemnity insurance only from insurers specified by the law societies should be reviewed to establish whether they are in the public interest -- Principle 10. All States and Territories agree to cease official selection and endorsement of Queen's Counsel and all rules, including those relating to charges and fee scales, which distinguish Queen's Counsel from junior barristers and other advocates should be removed.ant role of S 6 |
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Principles recommended: 1. For competition law to have full effect, States and Territories agree that regulatory intervention by government in regard to the legal profession should be kept to the minimum necessary to protect the public interest in the administration of justice and consumer protection -- 2. Licensing arrangements for lawyers which require separate practising certificates for barristers and for solicitor should be eliminated -- 3. Lawyers should have the freedom to inform their clients and to attract business by means of advertising and promotion and related forms of information disclosure, subject only to rules which prevent false, misleading or deceptive representations and conduct -- |
| Notes |
Chair: Roger B. Wilkins |
| Subject |
Advertising -- Lawyers.
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Competition -- Australia.
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Justice, Administration of -- Australia.
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Law reform -- Australia.
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Lawyers -- Fees.
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Lawyers -- Insurance requirements.
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Lawyers -- Australia.
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Lawyers.
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Legal services -- Australia.
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Vocational qualifications -- Australia.
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| Author |
Wilkins, Roger.
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Council of Australian Governments.
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| ISBN |
0644473436 |
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