The Law Society is accepting proposals from lawyers and other interested individuals, businesses and organizations.
The objective of our Innovation Sandbox initiative is to improve access to justice by improving access to legal advice and assistance.
Through participation in the Law Society’s Innovation Sandbox, the Law Society of British Columba is committed to helping lawyers, law firms and others interested in providing legal services develop innovative ways to improve access to legal advice and assistance. The Innovation Sandbox is a "safe space" for those not currently authorized to provide legal services and for existing firms to test ideas in a controlled environment that are likely to benefit the public.
If you have an idea but are not sure whether regulation could stop it getting off the ground or have just been thinking of a new way to assist the public with legal advice or assistance, serve your clients or run your law firm, consider submitting a proposal to the Law Society’s innovation sandbox.
“… Sandboxes might look, from outside the profession, like a very small step forward. But viewed from the inside, I think they’re something close to a paradigm shift, and their potential impact is significant. They represent the possibility of fundamental change for the better in the underlying premise of legal services regulation. I’m a fan, and I hope you will be one as well.”
Jordan Furlong, The Paradigm Shift of Regulatory Sandboxes Slaw, December 17, 2020
“The innovation sandbox is a forward-thinking approach that allows us to test and monitor whether individuals and businesses who are not lawyers or law firms can make affordable legal services available to British Columbians who currently get no legal help, while still ensuring there are proper safeguards to protect the public”
Craig Ferris, QC, Past President Chair, Futures Task Force
“The marketplace can in fact identify and create the business models and the proposals that work for people better than we can and impose them from the top down. It is a system that says, rather than ‘if we build it, they will come,’ let them build it and let us make sure the public isn’t harmed.”
Trudi Brown, QC, Former President Chair, Paralegal Task Force
A structured environment that permits individuals and organizations to provide legal assistance to address the public’s unmet legal needs.
The Law Society is accepting proposals from interested individuals, businesses and organizations.
A list of those who have been approved by the Law Society Executive Committee for participation in the Innovation Sandbox, along with a summary of the services or proposal and a copy of the “no action” letter for each participant is available.
FAQs about the Innovation Sandbox