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28 U. Queensland L.J. 201 (2009)
Compliance Auditing of Law Firms: A Technological Journey to Prevention

handle is hein.journals/qland28 and id is 204 raw text is: COMPLIANCE AUDITING OF LAW FIRMS: A TECHNOLOGICAL JOURNEY TO PREVENTION STEVE MARK* AND TAHLIA GORDON** The changing nature of the legal services marketplace in the 21St century has not only resulted in considerable challenges for practitioners but also challenges for those that are responsible for regulating the legal profession. The New South Wales Office of the Legal Services has responded to these changes by augmenting the traditional regulatory paradigm which focused on complaints with a new regulatory framework that utilises a technology focused compliance based paradigm of practice reviews and risk profiling. The ultimate aim of the new regime is to reduce the number of complaints against legal practitioners. As the saying goes - 'prevention is better than cure'. I INTRODUCTION Over the past few decades we as a society have witnessed considerable developments in trade, foreign direct investment, capital flows, migration, and technology to the extent that national boundaries have gradually diminished in importance. The fall of barriers has simulated free movement of capital and paved the way for companies to set up global businesses resulting in entities with profits as large as the gross domestic incomes of third world countries.' The incidence of global institutions is not however limited to transnational corporations alone. Globalisation has also led to significant growth in the legal services marketplace both in Australia and overseas.2 In conjunction with the growth of law firms there has also been a strong growth in trade in transnational legal services.3 The practice of law is today becoming big business. As a result major structural changes are * Legal Services Commissioner. Steve Mark was appointed as the first Legal Services Commissioner for New South Wales, Australia in 1994. Mr Mark has lectured and consulted widely throughout Australia on human rights issues and sound management practices in both the public and private sectors. He also serves as Chairman of the Australian Section of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJA). This paper was originally presented at the Third International legal Ethics Conference in Queensland in July 2008. ** Research & Projects Coordinator, Office of the Legal Services Commissioner. In 2001, General Electric for example had revenues of $126 billion, more than the combined national incomes of sub-Saharan African countries, except the Republic of South Africa. See John Madeley, Big Business, Poor People: The Impact of Transnational Corporations ont he World's Poor (1999). 2 A consolidated list of global law firms published annually and based on research survey compiled by The America Lawyer in the US and Legal Week in the UK lists 100 law firms as achieving 'global status'. The Global 100 is a list produced by the American Lawyer which ranks the world's highest-grossing firms see 'The Global 100' list available at <www.law.com> at 6 December 2009. 3 In Australia, legal services are today a significant component in the export of professional and technical services. Statistics reveal that Australian exports of legal services have grown from $A74 million in 1987/88 to about $A250 million in 2000/01. See Australian Bureau of Statistics, Legal Services Industry, Australian Legal Services Export Development Strategy 2003 to 2006 (March 2003) ILSAC < www.law.gov.au/ilsac> at 6 December 2009.

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