California’s Closing the Justice Gap Working Group is exploring possibilities for amendments to the Rules of Professional Conduct as part of a move to boost access to justice.
Bloomberg Law details that a state bar working group has determined that California’s legal system needs to be more accessible and affordable to average consumers. One push includes non-lawyer investment and ownership—signaling more widespread acceptance of Litigation Finance.
This reform might hasten the entry of large accounting firms into the American legal market. This is expected to include EY, PwC, Deloitte, and KPMG—AKA the Big Four. California is also looking to do away with Rule 5.4, as Arizona did last year. This would allow non-lawyers to share fees with lawyers, as well as allow ownership of legal services by non-lawyers.
It’s worth noting that some California legal service providers actually do better in the UK because the rules governing them are more welcoming and flexible. If these changes happen, we can expect more consumer-facing legal service providers to appear. Rocket Lawyer and Legal Zoom are already taking advantage of the new relaxed rules.