“Around 68 per cent of Australia's practising lawyers are regulated by uniform law, and that will increase to around 75 per cent when Western Australia comes on board. Importantly, the Uniform Law provides strengthened protections for consumers including through applying consistent regulations in different states,” said NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman, who – together with Victorian Attorney-General Jill Hennessy – joined Mr Quigley for the announcement.

Ms Hennessy said a seamless legal market between the three states would deliver time and cost savings to consumers and the legal profession.

“In the 21st century, people work across borders and it makes sense for lawyers to operate under the same rule book, which is why we are urging our counterparts in Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory to adopt the Uniform Law,” she said.

The announcement was welcomed by the Law Society of WA, with president Greg McIntyre SC noting that the society had been in favour of the state’s adoption of the Uniform Law “for many years”.

“A single, uniform set of professional conduct rules providing inter-jurisdictional consistency can only benefit consumers of legal services, the legal profession and regulators, especially with national and international firms now being commonplace,” he posited.

The Attorney-General has announced that legislation will be introduced to Parliament later this year to apply the Uniform Law in Western Australia, with WA to formally join the scheme on 1 July 2020.

From that date, it continued, the Legal Services Council – which oversees the implementation and operation of the Uniform Law – will be expanded to seven and include at least one member from Western Australia.

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“Our resource-based industries and the law firms that represent them will be among the big winners when the Uniform Law commences in Western Australia. We want to send a message across Australia and internationally that WA is a great place to do business and the introduction of the Uniform Law will help to do this,” Mr Quigley said.

“The Law Society has always maintained that Western Australia should have guaranteed representation on the national Legal Services Council and that WA should continue to maintain a local regulatory body made up of representatives of the legal profession and independent of government,” Mr McIntyre said.

“The Law Society understands that these requirements are pre-conditions of the Western Australian government joining the scheme and will be met under the Uniform Law.”