The traditional approach to attorney regulation in this country has been a reactive—rather than a proactive one. Lawyers are subject to discipline if their conduct fails to comply with the Model Rules of Professional Conduct outlined by the American Bar Association.
Proactive Management Based Regulation (“PMBR”), on the other hand, contemplates a significantly different and dynamic approach to attorney regulation. Under a PMBR model, lawyers in private practice must establish mechanisms and protocols to avoid the filing of disciplinary grievances and malpractice claims. Essentially, lawyers must adopt a common sense business model to avoid practice problems.
Lawyer regulators throughout the country are monitoring the practice of PMBR in Australia and England to determine the answer to a basic question: Can PMBR be successfully adopted here?