PETER WILLIAMSON LOOKS AT HOW INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION CAN HELP TO DEVELOP JUSTICE SYSTEMS AS WELL AS EXPAND MARKETS

The Law Society is working hard to ensure that international opportunities for solicitors continue to increase.

Our goal is to open practice rights for English and Welsh solicitors across the globe.

We regard this work as one of our core representational services, particularly, but not exclusively, for City firms.

As president of the Society, I am fully committed to working for the liberalisation of legal services and to opening the global legal market.

The Society aims to do this both by using multilateral trade talks to advance the interests of the profession and through bilateral negotiations with bar associations in other jurisdictions, to build relationships and cement the high reputation of English and Welsh solicitors.

At the multilateral level, the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is among one of the most important international agreements made under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Its aim is gradually to remove all barriers to international trade in services, including legal services.

The Law Society has been playing an active role in the new round of GATS negotiations that have been taking place since 2001.

We have been working particularly closely with the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) on these negotiations, as this department leads on trade in legal services for the UK government.

But we have also been working closely with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the European Commission, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the WTO on many different aspects of the GATS.

This work includes the prioritisation of target markets to help the UK government and European Commission assess the offers on better legal market access that are being made by various countries during the talks.

It also covers work on an agreed domestic regulatory framework for the implementation of market opening commitments.

There are real signs of progress in some key markets as a result of these multilateral talks.

For example, in the summer Japan passed legislation to permit foreign lawyers to enter into partnership and be employed by foreign lawyers.

For the first time, Korea has offered to open its market to foreign lawyers, and both China and Malaysia are considering improvements to their 'lawyers' laws.

There are equally encouraging GATS-driven developments taking place across the globe from Russia to Saudi Arabia.

The Law Society is a strong believer in the positive impact of liberalising legal services.

Our commitment to opening practice rights for English and Welsh solicitors is not just a commercially driven concern.

We believe that international competition and external influence can help to develop well functioning justice systems as well as to promote inward investment and economic development.

Liberalisation does not only mean more fee earning opportunities for English and Welsh solicitors, but an increased market for all lawyers, domestic and foreign.

For these reasons, we are also pursuing better co-operation with law societies and bar associations that have in the past been wary of foreign lawyers.

We are also pleased to be able to work with the UK government on these bilateral contacts.

DCA minister David Lammy recently visited Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines to lobby their governments on the positive benefits of liberalisation.

There is no doubt that visits such as these help to pave the way towards a better mutual understanding of how each country can benefit from legal services liberalisation.

The Law Society warmly welcomes the DCA's work in this area.

It is also for this reason that I will be visiting India, Singapore and Malaysia during December and Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan in January 2004.

During my forthcoming visits, I will be signing co-operation agreements and agreeing future projects with the Bar Council of India, the Law Society of Singapore and the Malaysian Bar Association.

I have also been invited, in my capacity as President of the Law Society, to address the annual conference of the Malaysian Bar Association.

The Malaysian Bar Council has informed us that I am the first European lawyer to have been invited to do so, which is a great honour.

In January, as part of my visit to Japan, and building on a friendship agreement that we signed in October this year, the Law Society will be holding a joint seminar with the Tokyo bar on professional ethics.

I am positive that activities such as these are an important step in building mutual understanding and supportive relationships that encourage countries in their efforts to liberalise access for foreign lawyers.

It is only by constructing positive relationships such as these, alongside the framework of international trade talks that we can advance the liberalisation of legal markets.

There is no doubt that being an admitted solicitor in England and Wales is a mark of quality that is respected around the world.

Working in collaboration with our government and with other governments and organisations around the world, I believe that we will be able to maintain our pole position in the international legal community and create even greater opportunities for our members in the future.

Peter Williamson is the Law Society president