Commercial officers from 13 British embassies and consulates are returning to England next month for a week-long course in a bid to press home the importance of UK legal services and the need to promote opportunities for international law firms.

The Law Society event, which is backed by the government and the Bar Council, will involve senior officers from embassies and other organisations in Argentina, China (Beijing and Shanghai), Egypt, India (Mumbai and Delhi), Mexico, Oman, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, Dubai, Bahrain and Libya.


The programme will cover international marketing and the role of embassies in legal services, as well as individual areas of law where UK lawyers can have an input such as arts and sport, insurance, infrastructure projects and e-commerce.


It will also involve more than 20 law firms, with speakers drawn from DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary, Eversheds, Clifford Chance, Allen & Overy, Lovells, Kennedys, Wragge & Co and Kingsley Napley. Speakers from the Law Society, Department for Constitutional Affairs and College of Law will also give their views.


The delegates will also visit Birmingham Law Society to look at the legal sector outside London.


Solicitors interested in taking part in the event should contact the Society's international department by e-mailing alison.hook@lawsociety.org.uk.