Trends and Challenges in Lawyer Regulation: The Impact of Globalization and Technology

Globalization and technology have changed the practice of law in dramatic ways. This is true not only in the United States, but around the world. In this article, author Laurel Terry, along with Australian regulators Steve Mark and Tahlia Gordon, documented some of these global trends in lawyer regulation. Their article concluded that regulators face issues in common regarding “who” is regulated, “what” or whom is regulated, “when” regulation occurs, “where” regulation occurs, “how” it occurs, and “why” regulation occurs. This article uses this who-what-when-where-why-and-how framework to discuss events around the world. These developments include the 2007 UK Legal Services Act, changes in Australia that allowed the first publicly traded law firm, and that prompted developments in proactive regulation, among other things. The introductory section of this article reviews the different kinds of instruments that are used to establish lawyer regulation