International: regulations are intended mutually to benefit foreign and domestic law firms

Plans to lay down minimum rules that would allow lawyers to establish offices in any country were hatched at the International Bar Association conference in Prague last week.


The rules would permit foreign lawyers to practise their home country law, require them to register with the host state and be subject to local regulation, and ensure the transfer of skills to the local profession. Countries could provide greater freedom, such as to practise international, third-country and even domestic law.


If ultimately adopted by all law societies and bar associations around the world through the IBA - and thereafter by their governments - it would remove many of the problems City law firms face in breaking into key markets such as Korea and India, where currently they cannot establish a presence.


The proposal was made by solicitor Jonathan Goldsmith, secretary-general of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe, at a session updating bar leaders on the progress of negotiations on legal services under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) at the World Trade Organisation. Mr Goldsmith sits on the IBA's GATS working group, which will now work on the plan.


The session heard fears from smaller countries that large law firms from the likes of the UK and US would overwhelm local practices with their economic power. However, Peter Koves, head of Clifford Chance's Hungarian operation, said that with the appropriate controls - such as having a majority of local lawyers in the partnership - local lawyers gain from the presence of foreign counterparts.


Alison Hook, head of international at the Law Society, explained to delegates that England and Wales has benefited from being a liberal jurisdiction that is open to foreign lawyers. At the other end of the scale, work will go offshore if markets do not open up, she said.


Pointing to the example of Korea, she said several City firms have Korea departments based in other offices in the region, which handle major pieces of work. The country loses out because its own lawyers do not gain the experience, and other financial advantages - such as the tax take - are also lost, Ms Hook said.