Publisher's Synopsis
Noel Semple's outstanding book Legal Services Regulation at the Crossroads: Justitia's Legions is an exceptional overview, critique, and reevaluation of lawyer regulation in the common law world. He clearly and concisely delineates the widening regulatory gulf between North American jurisdictions (which he calls 'professionalist-independent') and the rest of the common law world (the 'competitive-consumerist' approach). Semple compares these approaches and presents a fair and persuasive defense of the American and Canadian model, as well as some sensible suggestions for possible improvements. If you seek to understand the current state of lawyer regulation in the common law world, you have found your guide.'
- Benjamin Barton, The University of Tennessee, US
'I have been delighted to have been able to observe, and discuss with, Professor Noel Semple the evolution of this outstanding book over the past three years. In my view, there is no comparable treatment of the regulation of legal services in North America that is as comprehensive in its substantive coverage, broadly interdisciplinary in the perspectives it engages, and original in the insights it offers.'
- Extract from the foreword by Michael Trebilcock, University of Toronto, Canada
Who should be allowed to provide legal services to others? What characteristics must these services possess? Through a comparative study of English-speaking jurisdictions, this book illuminates the policy choices involved in legal services regulation and the important consequences of these choices.
Regulation can protect the interests of clients and the public, and reinforce the rule of law. On the other hand, it can undermine access to justice and suppress innovation, whilst failing to accomplish its lofty ambitions. In this book, Noel Semple offers a pathway towards increasing regulation's benefits and reducing its burdens. A client-centric approach to legal services regulation can enhance access to justice and service quality, while revitalizing legal professionalism, self-regulation, and independence.
This book is both a comparative study of legal services regulation in the common law world, and an agenda for regulatory reform. Legal Services Regulation at the Crossroads will benefit legal scholars with an interest in access to justice, professional responsibility and legal ethics. Practitioners in legal services regulation will find the comprehensive agenda for reform a pragmatic point of reference.
