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?