End of Year Message from the CEO

18 December, 2018

Another busy year is coming to an end and as the festive season approaches, it is timely to reflect on the past year and our achievements in partnership with our valued designated regulatory authorities (DLRAs) and all of our important stakeholders.

This year, we completed our work on Managed Investment Schemes, which was a Charter task identified by the Standing Committee in 2015. The new rules came into effect on 1 July 2018 and we will be reviewing the effectiveness and regulatory impact of the MIS amendments in 2019.

From 1 January this year the external examiner reporting regime was harmonised to 31 May, with the trust year ending on 31 March. We are grateful to the External Examiner's Working Group for updating the External Examiner forms for 2019 and the EE course assessment questions.

Our Uniform Law Data Sharing Project now includes Admissions Data and Complaints and Disciplinary matters under Chapter 5 which was completed in 2017. We are now working towards extending this to all other chapters of the Uniform Law.

The Uniform Law Library was completed in AustLII by 30 June and contains all Statutes, Rules, Regulations, Guidelines and Directions, many DLRA determinations and all published decisions made under the Uniform Law since it commenced.

We initiated a series of Strategic Roundtables and a Uniform Law Summit where we received excellent feedback contributions from our stakeholders to prioritise changes to the Uniform Law. The next steps involve engaging with other Uniform Law stakeholders and then consideration by the LSC Council of these priorities at its meetings.

We remain committed to welcoming Western Australia into the Uniform Law scheme with a proposed commencement date of 1 July 2019.  In the meantime, we have had the pleasure of hosting two WA Solicitors General, Peter Quinlan SC (now the WA Chief Justice) and Joshua Thomson SC the current Solicitor General, at our Council meetings as observers.

It has certainly been a busy and eventful year for the Legal Services Council as we work in an environment of a collaborative legal landscape. We look forward to tackling new challenges next year and working with you all to keep the Uniform Law operating effectively and efficiently in promoting professional standards and protecting clients of law practices.

Thank you all for your support during the year and significant contributions to the Legal Services Council's work. We wish you and yours a very happy, safe and relaxing break.

Megan Pitt
CEO Legal Services Council
Commissioner for Uniform Legal Services Regulation