A fundamental shift is already in process in England and Australia, and is under consideration in France and other countries in the EU, in the ways in which lawyers and law firms will be regulated in the future. While American lawyers are generally oblivious to such developments, the changes in process overseas may well operate in ways that will undermine the traditional domination of the market for global legal services by the larger U.S.-headquartered multinational law firms.
In recognition of the significance of these developments, the incoming President of the American Bar Association, Carolyn B. Lamm, has announced the formation of the “Commission on Ethics 20/20″ which, as she indicated in her statement accompanying establishment of the commission, has been given the task of considering how “Technological advances and globalization have changed our profession in ways not yet reflected in our ethics codes and regulatory structure…[and to review] lawyer ethics rules and regulation across the United States in the context of a global legal services marketplace.”
