A Perspective on ABS
I was invited to sit on ABS Panel at the Canadian Bar Association Mid-Winter Meeting on Saturday, February 21, 2015. It was quite engaging and based on feedback I received from some audience members, also very informative.
Moderated by Fred Headon, the co-panelists were Lee Akazaki, Sheila Cameron, Allan Fineblit and Preston Parsons.
We were all initially asked to submit a 100-word pre-panel blog post. Since my initial drafted ended up being almost 4x the word limit (and was rightfully condensed by CBA National Magazine to comply with instructions), I've decided to share my entire blog post here:
From my point of view, the ABS discussionis an arena where, in essence, the legal profession in Canada is seeking to resolve a 2-pronged, albeit highly complex, challenge: (1) enabling its relevance; and (2) governance of its relevance. I refer, here, to the notion of relevance in its most causative sense- - specifically, being at cause of the profession’s relevance. The opportunity exists for the members of law societies to define how it will invigorate the legal services industry and ensure that members are regulated in accordance with the statutorily mandated principles of legal service provision - serving the public interest.
Being at cause necessitates innovative thinking. In order to facilitate a productive discourse on ABS, it is important to acknowledge and accept that the mere evaluation of potential ABS models by the LSUC is proof-positive that innovative thinking has already been underway. Simply put, the "push factor" determination of ‘why’ has already occurred on several fronts; the 'how' seems to be the next, most natural focus for consideration. The outcome and potential of innovative thinking by the legal profession will necessarily involve the development, deployment and use of resources that are beyond a lawyer's traditional toolbox.
The current economic reality of the legal service ecosystem is that governance is being diluted. Not the least of which is due to the existence of players in the realm of legal service delivery who are not members of a law society and to client and latent consumer needs that are being under-served. With the dilution of professional self-determination and governance, the practice/professional of law risks becoming lawless. Market forces are calling the legal profession to get very clear about its value proposition to the public and to be willing to provide useful offerings-- the profession is being called to sculpt its relevance. Absent the creation of a robust infrastructure to catalyze law practice innovations, it appears that a reasonably-designed ABS is the vehicle that can most efficiently and effectively enable lawyers to innovate in the practice of law and to be legitimately competitive in the legal services market.
Some photos of the panel can be found here.
Despite the number of challenges of being a lawyer-innovator within the existing regulatory regime, the notion of Lawyering is definitely evolving and times are exciting.
~Natalie