EU to free legal trade

The European Union is set to put the liberalisation of legal services high on the agenda with dozens of countries in the next round of World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks.Confidential negotiating documents leaked last week included demands for the end to restrictions in a host of countries from Australia to Venezuela.

For many, it was a basic call to allow foreign lawyers to practise home country and international law.Included on the list were countries of particular interest to UK law firms, such as India and Korea - currently closed to foreign lawyers - and China, Japan, and the US.Demands ranged from removing prior practice requirements for foreign lawyers in China and the US, to allowing full partnership between foreign and local lawyers in Japan.There are some concerns about the EU's uncompromising call for countries to allow foreign lawyers to employ and go into partnership with local lawyers as this has proved a major sticking point the world over.The International Bar Association sent a delegation to meet WTO officials last month.

Executive director Mark Ellis said it would next be leading a seminar in July for WTO delegates interested in learning more about legal services.'For some countries, it's very much on the radar screen, while for others it's not,' he said.

'But it's going to have to be for all of them.'Alison Hook, the Law Society's international director, said she welcomed the EU's 'ambitious approach', much of which she said was based on briefings provided by the Society.See feature, page 24Neil Rose