EU lawyers face court threat.

Hundreds of European Union lawyers based in England and Wales face criminal prosecution and a ban on recovering their fees if they fail to register their presence in the country this month.

Registration under the European rights of establishment directive becomes compulsory from 22 November.

It has been voluntary since 22 May, but only 15 of the estimated 600 European lawyers in England and Wales have completed the paperwork since then.

Failure to register will lead to a summary conviction in the magistrates' court and a fine.

More importantly, unregistered lawyers are not allowed to recover their fees.

The directive gives European lawyers a permanent right of establishment under their home professional title in any member state.

Foreign lawyers will be are treated in the same way as solicitors once they are registered with the Law Society.

After three years practising host state law, Registered European Lawyers will be integrated into the host body.

That means solicitors working in Paris will, after that time, be able to call themselves avocats.

Jonathan Goldsmith, the Law Society's international director, said: 'We are concerned if there are EU lawyers established in England and Wales who are not ready to register and we would urge them to do so as soon as possible.'

Meanwhile, a German in-house lawyer has become the first to requalify as a solicitor under the directive's integration provisions.

The Law Society has decided to allow EU lawyers who have worked in England and Wales for the past three years to become solicitors, rather than apply the three-year rule from the date of the directive in May.

Reiner Kasolowsky is IT company Syntegra's only UK-based in-house lawyer.

The company has the contract for UK Online, which will enable people to deal over the Web with government departments and local authorities.

He has worked inEngland for 12 years.

For information on registration, call the Law Society's information service on 0870 606 2555.

The Law Society has launched the first major review of the Qualified Lawyers Transfer Test since it began ten years ago.

Contact Paul Milton at the Society in Redditch on DX 19114 or Paul.Milton@lawsociety.org.ukNeil Rose