Law21 https://www.law21.ca/ Dispatches from a legal profession on the brink Wed, 18 Oct 2023 18:09:46 +0000 en hourly 1 117234615 Taking a new path forward https://www.law21.ca/2023/03/taking-a-new-path-forward/ https://www.law21.ca/2023/03/taking-a-new-path-forward/#comments Tue, 21 Mar 2023 16:30:34 +0000 https://www.law21.ca/?p=8223 This will be my last post here at the Law21 blog for awhile. It’s also my first post here in a while, and these two are connected. Today, I’m launching a Substack newsletter that will effectively replace this blog. This is a pretty major change for me, and I feel I owe you an explanation of […]

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]]> https://www.law21.ca/2023/03/taking-a-new-path-forward/feed/ 5 8223 Why competence-based licensure would make the law degree unnecessary https://www.law21.ca/2022/10/why-competence-based-licensure-would-make-the-law-degree-unnecessary/ https://www.law21.ca/2022/10/why-competence-based-licensure-would-make-the-law-degree-unnecessary/#comments Wed, 05 Oct 2022 15:40:16 +0000 https://www.law21.ca/?p=8171 Requiring an aspiring lawyer to earn a law degree before they can begin the lawyer licensing process is an unnecessary and unfair barrier to entering the legal profession. The requirement should be dropped. That’s (probably) the most controversial proposal in the report I submitted to the Law Society of British Columbia, which recommended the adoption […]

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]]> https://www.law21.ca/2022/10/why-competence-based-licensure-would-make-the-law-degree-unnecessary/feed/ 2 8171 A competence-based lawyer licensing system in British Columbia https://www.law21.ca/2022/09/a-competence-based-lawyer-licensing-system-in-british-columbia/ https://www.law21.ca/2022/09/a-competence-based-lawyer-licensing-system-in-british-columbia/#comments Fri, 30 Sep 2022 14:41:48 +0000 https://www.law21.ca/?p=8150 You might have been wondering what I’ve been up to lately, or why I’ve written so little here in the past several months. Okay, you weren’t wondering about that at all, but the answer is this: I’ve been immersed in a major project for a Canadian legal regulator that I’ve had to keep under wraps […]

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]]> https://www.law21.ca/2022/09/a-competence-based-lawyer-licensing-system-in-british-columbia/feed/ 2 8150 The associate salary deception https://www.law21.ca/2022/06/the-associate-salary-deception/ https://www.law21.ca/2022/06/the-associate-salary-deception/#comments Tue, 14 Jun 2022 13:56:41 +0000 https://www.law21.ca/?p=8142 When your average baseball fan goes to a ballgame these days, invariably he grumbles about the expense — $50 tickets, $15 beers, $9 hot dogs, and so forth. “It’s those greedy players,” he complains to the guy next to him. “They make millions of dollars, so the club has to charge high prices for everything. […]

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]]> https://www.law21.ca/2022/06/the-associate-salary-deception/feed/ 2 8142 The intentional law office https://www.law21.ca/2022/03/the-intentional-law-office/ https://www.law21.ca/2022/03/the-intentional-law-office/#comments Tue, 29 Mar 2022 14:23:46 +0000 https://www.law21.ca/?p=8101 I want you to concentrate. Cast your mind back. Try to recall what life was like in the Before Times. Do you remember … The Commute? Way back, before the pandemic, many of us would leave our homes early in the morning and travel to our collective workspaces. Then, when we were finished doing all […]

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]]> https://www.law21.ca/2022/03/the-intentional-law-office/feed/ 3 8101 The way we’ve always done it is wrong https://www.law21.ca/2022/01/the-way-weve-always-done-it-is-wrong/ https://www.law21.ca/2022/01/the-way-weve-always-done-it-is-wrong/#comments Wed, 19 Jan 2022 18:45:10 +0000 https://www.law21.ca/?p=8051 Welcome news last week out of Oregon, where the state Supreme Court unanimously “approved in concept” two alternative pathways to lawyer licensure that don’t involve writing the bar exam. The potential new routes to bar admission were proposed in the July 2021 report of the Oregon State Board of Bar Examiners’ Alternatives to the Bar […]

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]]> https://www.law21.ca/2022/01/the-way-weve-always-done-it-is-wrong/feed/ 4 8051 The question every legal regulator needs to answer https://www.law21.ca/2021/10/the-question-every-legal-regulator-needs-to-answer/ https://www.law21.ca/2021/10/the-question-every-legal-regulator-needs-to-answer/#comments Fri, 15 Oct 2021 17:40:56 +0000 https://www.law21.ca/?p=8015 Earlier this month, I was fortunate to appear on the closing panel at the International Conference of Legal Regulators‘ 2021 Virtual Conference. The premise of our panel was that regulatory innovations are taking place in many different countries, and we should decide whether this is a good thing or not. I was the last of […]

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]]> https://www.law21.ca/2021/10/the-question-every-legal-regulator-needs-to-answer/feed/ 3 8015 Defining lawyer competence https://www.law21.ca/2021/08/defining-lawyer-competence/ https://www.law21.ca/2021/08/defining-lawyer-competence/#comments Fri, 13 Aug 2021 13:40:22 +0000 https://www.law21.ca/?p=7958 Think about these two questions for a moment: 1. What would you want to know about a person before agreeing they should be allowed to become a lawyer? 2. What would you want to know about a person before agreeing they should be allowed to remain a lawyer? How would you answer them? These are […]

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]]> https://www.law21.ca/2021/08/defining-lawyer-competence/feed/ 6 7958 The legal regulation revolution https://www.law21.ca/2021/07/the-legal-regulation-revolution/ https://www.law21.ca/2021/07/the-legal-regulation-revolution/#comments Fri, 30 Jul 2021 15:37:57 +0000 https://www.law21.ca/?p=7919 Almost exactly three years ago, when hardly anyone was talking about a pandemic, I wrote about the California State Bar’s brand new Access Through Innovation In Legal Services Task Force, of which I remarked: The chances that California’s task force will result in fundamental reform to law firm ownership rules in the United States are […]

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]]> https://www.law21.ca/2021/07/the-legal-regulation-revolution/feed/ 3 7919 The future of legal sector reform is now https://www.law21.ca/2021/06/the-future-of-legal-sector-reform-is-now/ https://www.law21.ca/2021/06/the-future-of-legal-sector-reform-is-now/#comments Tue, 29 Jun 2021 18:01:28 +0000 https://www.law21.ca/?p=7878 I was happy to contribute an article to the latest issue of leading European legal industry magazine Legal Innovation and Technology Today. You should read the entire issue, which includes great pieces about DEI in the legal sector by Christy Burke, agile law firms by Chris Bull, and key corporate legal trends by Ari Kaplan. […]

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