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Abstract

Details

Legal Professions: Work, Structure and Organization
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-76230-800-2

Book part
Publication date: 17 August 2016

Christine Riordan and Paul Osterman

This paper explores organizational restructuring in corporate law firms. We review recent changes in law firms’ business models and structures, specifically as they relate to the…

Abstract

This paper explores organizational restructuring in corporate law firms. We review recent changes in law firms’ business models and structures, specifically as they relate to the externalization of work – or the unbundling of work and its placement with outside entities, which redefines the division of labor and the nature of the employment relationship. We draw from the extensive scholarship on the legal profession to raise empirical and theoretical implications of market-driven change to the careers of lawyers as well as the shifting patterns of stratification within corporate firms and the profession at large.

Details

The Structuring of Work in Organizations
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78635-436-5

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 October 2023

Doron Goldbarsht and Katie Benson

The legal profession is vulnerable to abuse for the purposes of money laundering and terrorist financing. According to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), that vulnerability…

Abstract

Purpose

The legal profession is vulnerable to abuse for the purposes of money laundering and terrorist financing. According to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), that vulnerability justified updated global recommendations that urge countries to require lawyers, notaries and other independent legal professionals – including sole practitioners, partners and employed professionals within law firms – to identify, assess and manage the money laundering and terrorist financing risks associated with their services and to ensure that they have appropriate mechanisms in place to provide risk assessment information to competent authorities. Those recommendations proved contentious, with concerns raised by both legal academics and legal professional bodies about the implications of certain aspects of the requirements for the principle of lawyer–client confidentiality. Despite those concerns, many countries have introduced or amended regulatory regimes to extend their application to the legal sector to comply with the FATF’s standards. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the debate surrounding the extension of AML/CTF obligations to the legal profession.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper considers three jurisdictions – the UK, Israel and Australia – at different stages in their journey towards compliance with the FATF’s anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) standards for the legal profession. While the UK has a long-established and well-embedded AML regulatory framework for legal professionals, Australia remains non-compliant with the FATF standards. Israel occupies a position between these two ends of the spectrum: following criticism of the omission of lawyers from its AML/CTF regime, Israel implemented due diligence rules for the profession. In 2018, Israel was found to be partially compliant with the relevant FATF recommendations.

Findings

It argues that although there are challenges involved, there are also important benefits. Therefore, Australia should act to implement its proposed changes sooner rather than later. Its persistent failure to appropriately address globally recognised areas of vulnerability leaves Australia open to integrity abuse. In addition, if the government delays addressing this issue until pressure from the FATF (such as deadlines for compliance and, if necessary, a finding of non-compliance) forces it to comply, this may tarnish Australia’s reputation, threaten its access to international financial markets and adversely affect the legitimacy and effectiveness of its AML/CTF regime.

Originality/value

Originality in this context refers to the distinctiveness and uniqueness of a paper’s content and approach. In this case, the originality lies in the fact that there is no other existing paper that addresses the topic of three common-law jurisdictions at various stages of their progression towards aligning with the FATF AML/CTF standards, specifically within the context of the legal profession. Furthermore, the timeliness of this paper is underscored by the fact that multiple jurisdictions are currently deliberating their positions on the focus of this paper. This adds to its originality and relevance, as it addresses a gap in the literature while also contributing to the ongoing discourse surrounding compliance with FATF’s standards.

Details

Journal of Financial Crime, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1359-0790

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 October 2019

Lisanawati Go and Njoto Benarkah

This paper aims to explore the obstacles that the ethical guidelines of legal professionals pose in the implementation of an effective anti-money laundering regime, established in…

410

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the obstacles that the ethical guidelines of legal professionals pose in the implementation of an effective anti-money laundering regime, established in the law on anti-money laundering in Indonesia. Some compliance schemes have been developed to integrate the participation of gatekeepers in anti-money laundering efforts, but the solution to mitigate the challenges must be implemented through the participation of the legal profession.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses a qualitative research methodology, including a triangulation of interviews with relevant experts, literature review and analysis of regulations. A deductive approach is employed to analyse the data.

Findings

The legal profession’s ethical regulations and laws were considered to be the cause for the Indonesian Government’s inability to implement the anti-money laundering regime. The findings show two practical solutions that could be implemented: A government policy for the amendment of the anti-money laundering law and organizational policy to increase support for the anti-money laundering regime; and active participation of legal professionals in an effective anti-money laundering regime in Indonesia.

Originality/value

This study provides insight into the participation of the legal profession in anti-money laundering efforts.

Details

Journal of Money Laundering Control, vol. 22 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1368-5201

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 8 November 2001

Abstract

Details

Legal Professions: Work, Structure and Organization
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-76230-800-2

Article
Publication date: 27 November 2019

Yan-Ho Lai

Despite the preservation of “One Country, Two Systems” for 50 years under the Sino-British Joint Declaration and Basic Law, changes are palpable due to the emergence of a real…

Abstract

Purpose

Despite the preservation of “One Country, Two Systems” for 50 years under the Sino-British Joint Declaration and Basic Law, changes are palpable due to the emergence of a real contest between liberal and pro-China actors in the legal profession and the legal environment in Hong Kong. After celebrating the twentieth anniversary of Hong Kong’s sovereignty transfer from Britain to China, it is valuable to study how the sovereign power influence the rule of law in its semiautonomous city by non-legal measures. This paper aims to offer a preliminary research on China’s political economic strategy, which is regarded as the “China factor”, in the legal system of Hong Kong, and its political, economic and legal-cultural impacts on the rule of law.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper argues that China exerts its influence over the legal system of Hong Kong in four domains, including ideology, political elections, legal organization and cross-border political economy. Based on media research and content analysis over published materials of various legal associations and institutions, it is found that China attempts to consolidate its control in Hong Kong by producing alternative legal ideology and discourse of the rule of law and by co-opting the legal profession under China’s united front strategy.

Findings

While there are liberal lawyers and legal scholars vocally engaging in defense of human rights and the rule of law in Hong Kong, a network of legal profession promoting socialist and authoritarian legal values has become prominent. Hong Kong’s legal culture will continue to be shaped in accordance with authoritarian characteristics and will adversely affect developing the rule of law in this international city.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the study of China’s influence over the legal profession of Hong Kong and in general Hong Kong’s jurisdiction by offering an example to the international community that contributes towards understanding how China adopts different strategies to expand political significance beyond its border.

Details

Social Transformations in Chinese Societies, vol. 15 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1871-2673

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 2 September 2009

Ethan Michelson

In China's urban context of labor retrenchment, women are faring poorly relative to their male counterparts. Is the same true in China's incipient, dynamic, and expanding legal

Abstract

In China's urban context of labor retrenchment, women are faring poorly relative to their male counterparts. Is the same true in China's incipient, dynamic, and expanding legal profession? Findings from four sources of quantitative data suggest that gender inequality in China's private and highly market-driven legal profession is a microcosm of larger patterns of female disadvantage in China's evolving urban labor market. Although employment opportunities for women lawyers have greatly expanded quantitatively, their careers are qualitatively less successful than those of their male counterparts in terms of both income and partnership status. In the Chinese bar, women's significantly shorter career trajectories are perhaps the most important cause of their lower incomes and slimmer chances of becoming a law firm partner. Future research must identify the causes of this significant career longevity gap between men and women in the Chinese legal profession.

Details

Work and Organizationsin China Afterthirty Years of Transition
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84855-730-7

Article
Publication date: 20 September 2011

Thomas A. Lee

The purpose of this paper is to study the incidence, impact, and consequences of accountant and lawyer bankruptcies in Victorian Scotland. The paper examines these bankruptcies in…

1931

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study the incidence, impact, and consequences of accountant and lawyer bankruptcies in Victorian Scotland. The paper examines these bankruptcies in the context of an emerging profession separating from an established legal profession as part of the rise of professionalism in the Victorian Age.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper reports data describing 135 accountant and 361 lawyer bankruptcies declared between 1855 and 1904. It uses theories of the rise of professionalism, signals of movement to occupational ascendancy, and social attitudes to money to provide explanations of the incidence, impact, and consequences of these bankruptcies. The paper also examines bankruptcy and the early disciplinary codes of professional accountancy associations.

Findings

Despite a trend of general decline in total, accountant, and lawyer bankruptcies in Scotland through the Victorian Age, there is no consistency over time between accountant and lawyer bankruptcies and economic conditions. Bankrupt accountants were typically unregulated as professionals in contrast with bankrupt lawyers who were usually regulated. Accountant and lawyer bankruptcies predominantly involved experienced practitioners, location in major cities, and administration by professional accountants. Bankruptcy was associated with criminal activity in a minority of cases in each profession. There was inconsistency in the post‐bankruptcy disciplining of bankrupt accountants and lawyers, and post‐bankruptcy loss of economic status in both professions.

Practical implications

The paper contributes to the Victorian history of institutionalised professions such as accounting and law. It demonstrates the presence of marginal practitioners in emerging and established professions, the need to study professionalisation in social context, and the impact of bankruptcy on discipline in an emerging profession.

Originality/value

The paper represents the first contextualised study of bankruptcy among professionals generally and accountants and lawyers, particularly in the Victorian Age.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 24 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 26 June 2006

Glenn Morgan and Sigrid Quack

In this paper, we analyse how the national variety in professional organisation is affected by the current period of globalisation by reference to key features of the business law…

Abstract

In this paper, we analyse how the national variety in professional organisation is affected by the current period of globalisation by reference to key features of the business law firm in the US, the UK and Germany. Our argument is that changes in law firms from these different countries are indeed intertwined with each other through a gradual process of legal globalisation but that they are not necessarily converging on a dominant US model. Rather we find evidence that new hybrid types of firms are arising in Europe out of a re-combination of elements of different national models.

Details

Professional Service Firms
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-76231-302-0

Article
Publication date: 1 April 2019

Saslina Kamaruddin and Zaiton Hamin

The purpose of this paper is to provide some empirical findings on the predicaments of lawyers’ anti-money laundering (AML) compliance in Malaysia and the rationales for such…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide some empirical findings on the predicaments of lawyers’ anti-money laundering (AML) compliance in Malaysia and the rationales for such predicaments.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper adopts a qualitative research in which the primary data are obtained from seven case studies involving legal firms within the Klang Valley, Selangor, Malaysia, which is triangulated with the data from the Central Bank and the Malaysian Bar Council.

Findings

The authors contend that despite the vulnerability of their profession to money laundering, the level of awareness of the AML obligations amongst Malaysian legal practitioners is rather minimal. Also, the imposition of obligations upon them in policing their clients and regulating money laundering is not only onerous but also contrary to the ethics of their profession.

Originality/value

This paper fills the gap in providing the empirical evidence on lawyers’ compliance to their statutory AML obligations in Malaysia. Also, this paper could be a useful source of information for practitioners, academicians and students. It could also be a beneficial guide for policymakers for any possible future amendments to the law.

Details

Journal of Financial Crime, vol. 26 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1359-0790

Keywords

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