Australian Government: Attorney-General's Department
Australian Government: Attorney-General's DepartmentAchieving a Just and Secure Society

Council of Australian Governments (COAG) National Legal Profession Reform consultation package

Public consultation period closed on 13 August 2010

On 19 April 2010, draft uniform legal profession legislation developed by the National Legal Profession Reform Taskforce was presented to the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) with the support of the Attorney-General, the Hon Robert McClelland MP.

Find out more about the background to the development of this draft legislation.

COAG agreed to the release of this draft legislation as part of a Consultation Package. On 21 April 2010, the Attorney-General announced a public consultation period which ran for three months, until 13 August 2010. Read the Attorney-General's media release.

Supplementary consultation paper

The model for the composition and appointment of the National Legal Services Board contained in the draft National Law attracted very high levels of interest during the public consultation period which ran from 14 May to 13 August 2010.  In response, the Taskforce issued a paper on the National Legal Services Board on which the Taskforce sought views during the public consultation period.

Consultation package

The draft National Law contains the Taskforce’s proposals on national regulation of the legal profession.

The draft National Rules complement the draft National Law and propose detail on how the National Law will be applied.

The consultation Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) defines the issues that are being addressed through these reforms, considers the options for addressing those issues and assesses the relative costs and benefits of those options. It aims to elicit the views of affected parties on the impact of the proposed reforms prior to the development of final recommendations.

The Consultation Report explains some of the key proposals made by the Taskforce and poses questions about proposals on which submissions were particularly sought. The Report should be read in conjunction with the other materials in the consultation package.

Prior to the end of the consultation period, submissions were also accepted on the Legal Profession National Rules – Solicitors’ Rules 2010 and Legal Profession National Rules – Barristers’ Rules 2010:

These Solicitors’ Rules and Barristers’ Rules were developed by the Law Council of Australia and the Australian Bar Association respectively, not the Taskforce. Submissions received in relation to the Solicitors’ Rules and Barristers’ Rules were forwarded to the Law Council of Australia or Australian Bar Association for consideration.

Consumers

To find out more about the key changes and issues that may be of interest to consumers, please go to the COAG National Legal Profession Reform for Consumers page.