In my view, ABS provide the answer to issues of work/life balance, gender/diversity in the Bar and access to justice/legal aid. In many ways, it is Ontario's current structure of legal services delivery that creates roadblocks to these matters.
The 2011/2012 Draft Business Plan for the UK's Legal Services Board is in agreement, for it states that:
ABS is potentially one of the most transformative developments in the history of legal services provision.
It will bring new investment, fresh ideas and new ways of working to the market. A well-regulated dynamic market for legal services will deliver across the regulatory objectives. By removing historical restrictions - whilst replacing them with robust risk-assessment measures focused on outcomes - practitioners will be able to innovate and reshape their offer in ways that were previously not possible.
New forms of collaboration and new entrants into the market will increase consumer choice, whilst greater competition will raise standards.
Existing law firms will be able to attract new capital – providing a driver for sustainability and growth in difficult economic times.
‘This programme will also contribute to a greater degree of plurality in the market, bringing new working practices and career pathways.
New entrants with original approaches to development, virtual law firms and greater numbers of telephone and web-based advisory services with greater varieties of pricing structures are just some examples.
Challenging old orthodoxies will be a major feature of the more dynamic and diverse marketplace – having an impact on areas such as workforce diversity, where the unreformed market had difficulty with the pace of change in other sectors.
Opening up the market can also have a major impact on widening access to justice at a critical time.
Increased levels of supply from new entrants, alongside greater innovation in the way services are packaged and delivered, will create competitive forces that lower prices and widen access.
In the current economic climate, and in the context of new pressures on legal aid, this has the potential to have a major impact – particularly for those consumers who, whilst better-off than the threshold for public support, still struggle to afford to engage good-quality legal advice.
Competition is more likely to extend the reach of provision in these areas than current restrictive practices will allow.
The Law Society of Upper Canada can no longer keep its head in the sand and ignore what is happening around the world. We need to take advantage of the experience and research that is being done worldwide and create a new era of legal services delivery for the betterment of the people of this province.
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