The powerful impact of law firm management systems on complaints Dr. Christine Parker Melbourne Law...
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The powerful impact of law firm
management systems on complaints
Dr. Christine ParkerMelbourne Law School
Year allowed
Number
Percentage of all firms
New South Wales
2001 800+ 20%
Victoria 2004 600 25%Queensland
2007 100+ 10%
Western Australia
2004 173 27%
Incorporated legal practices in Australia
Proportion of incorporated legal practices by size
16%
24%
33%
11%
0 4%
15%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
1 2 3-5 6-10 11-20 21+ Total
Number of Principals/Legal Practitioner Directors
Per
cen
tag
e of
all
Leg
al
Pra
ctic
es o
f th
at S
ize
Location of incorporated legal practices
City (Sydney)31%
Suburban (Sydney)
41%
Rural26%
Based intersate2%
Management-based regulation
•All legal work to be carried out by qualified legal practitioners subject to normal regulation
• PLUS
•Every incorporated legal practice to have:
• at least one legal practitioner director
• ‘appropriate management systems’
Self-assessment & education towards
compliance• non-compliant - not addressed
• partially compliant - not fully functional
• compliant
• fully compliant - regularly assessed
• fully compliant plus - continuous improvement
QuickTime™ and a decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Mean rate of complaints per practitioner per year
for incorporated legal practices
•Before self-assessment = 0.301
•After self-assessment = 0.098
•Down to one third!!
Comparing incorporated and non-incorporated legal
practices
•Non-incorporated law firms = 0.222
•Inc. practices before self-assessment = 0.205
•Inc. practices after self-assessment = 0.078
•Down to one third!!
The substance is in the self-assessment process
•Value of mean ratings make no difference, except perhaps costs
•Suburban and rural practices receive more complaints
•Going through self-assessment process is always the most important factor
Thank you for listening!
Any questions?