Lawyers could clean up in Afghanistan if they take the risk, says City lawyer

OPPORTUNITIES: plenty of commercial law work for those with Soviet experience

A City lawyer recently returned from Afghanistan said this week that the war-ravaged country holds opportunities for commercial lawyers prepared to take risks.

Alexander Lesser, a consultant with London firm Kerman & Co, returned from a week-long fact finding tour of Afghanistan last month.

He met with officials of the Islamic transition government of Afghanistan (ITGA), the ministries of mines and industry, planning, justice and commerce.

Mr Lesser, who formerly worked as a partner with US firm Squires Sanders & Dempsey in Tajikistan, said: 'The most important of the opportunities coming up will be resumption of the Turkmenistan-to-Pakistan gas pipeline project, proposed in the 1990s by Argentine company Bridas and US company Unocal.'

Later this month, the heads of state of the ITGA, Turkmenistan and Pakistan are expected to sign preliminary documents in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabad.

Mr Lesser said the opportunities would be greatest for lawyers with experience of working in the former Soviet republics, as the working language within many ministries was Russian.

He said: 'The lawyers likely to pick up work will be those willing to take risks and especially those with good contacts among former Afghan exiles.'

Edward Lidderdale, a consultant with the British government quango, Trade Partners UK, said there is also a requirement for legal expertise in some of the forthcoming aid projects aimed at establishing working legal institutions in Afghanistan.

He said: 'A range of projects is in the pipeline that will be funded by the government, the UN and the World Bank.

'These will appeal to lawyers with experience in development, but unlike, say, the former Soviet Union, the work involves helping to create legal institutions from scratch, rather than amending existing ones.'

Jeremy Fleming