Sunday, September 4, 2016

Disruptive innovations in legal services

Disruptive innovations are beginning to transform legal services and the manner in which they are delivered:

Online service delivery is allowing both legal professionals and unlicensed providers to serve clients remotely;

Ranking and review information regarding legal professionals is allowing clients to assess the quality of professionals before retaining them – a previously difficult proposition;

The unbundling of services, is transforming the distribution of tasks in legal services and ending traditional “black box” models of service delivery; 
and

Automation is changing the nature, and volume, of tasks that legal professionals perform.


As a result of these innovations and the new competition they bring, the regulatory framework in which legal professionals operate is under pressure.  Legal professional exclusivity, entry restrictions and self-regulation are all being challenged.


Competition authorities can play a role in advocating for regulatory systems that reflect current market realities and ensure market access for pro-competitive disruptive innovations. This process will require consideration of the objectives of legal professional regulations, particularly those addressing market failure, as well as the current design of those regulations.

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