Law Society opens consultation on Lawyers and Conveyancers Act, regulations

• amending confidentiality provisions for more flexibility in disclosing information regarding complaints to personally impacted non-complainant parties and staff of regulatory or law enforcement agencies 
• ensuring that the minimum legal experience criterion for practise-on-own-account applications targets the risk arising from an applicant’s intended mode of practice 
• permitting the law society to impose tailoured conditions on lawyers’ practising certificates to respond to regulatory risk 

In its news release, the law society said the planned changes would also: 

• make the regulatory regime regarding the orders that lawyers’ standards committees can issue more flexible 
• appropriately allocate resources within the regulatory framework concerning participants who receive information about the outcome of a complaint or an own motion investigation 
• tackle inconsistencies in the regulatory regime 

Context of consultation

In its consultation document, the law society noted that a Regulatory Systems (Occupational Regulation) Bill (RSAB) is presently before Parliament and scheduled for second reading. The education and workforce select committee gave an update on the RSAB on 21 July 2025. 

The law society shared that the RSAB’s amendments to the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act seek to safeguard consumers of legal services and lawyers, enable the law society to use resources more efficiently, and deal with inconsistencies and redundancies in the legislation. 

The law society explained that its current consultation anticipates future opportunities for reforms to the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act and secondary legislation. 

In its news release, the law society said the potential amendments regarding which it is consulting reflected its efforts to identify possible areas for reforms to its rules, regulations, systems, and processes. An independent review report it commissioned and released in March 2023 recommended major reforms to the statutory and regulatory framework. 

The law society stressed the potential for distinct changes to the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act and secondary legislation, even though the justice minister suggested the current government would unlikely prioritise wholesale reforms to the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act. 

“These relatively confined amendments would enable the law society to operate in a more transparent and efficient manner for both consumers and the legal profession, until broader legislative change can be considered,” said Katie Rusbatch, the law society’s chief executive, in the news release.