Hellwig: narrow scope of law International lawyers in the UK need to lobby loudly and forcefully for enhanced cross-border practice rights, a senior Law Society official told the ABA conference in Atlanta.


Alison Hook, head of Chancery Lane's international unit, told the Gazette that state courts and bars in the US remained sceptical about the need for greater liberalisation as long as foreign lawyers were reluctant to campaign actively for change.



'Practitioners who want these rights are going to have to become engaged in the debate,' said Ms Hook. 'Courts in the US need evidence that there is interest from overseas lawyers.'


She was speaking as negotiations over the contentious issue crept forward gradually at a summit meeting between European and US lawyers at the ABA conference, amid disappointment at the slow speed of progress. The core issue remains pressure emanating primarily from the New York Bar for unlimited practice rights in EU countries.


That position contrasts sharply with a reluctance on the part of US states to adopt a two-year-old ABA model rule that would allow a liberalised regime for occasional or temporary practice by EU lawyers in the US.


So far, only Pennsylvania, Georgia and Louisiana have adopted the rule, while Florida is understood to be seriously considering it. Nine state have rejected the rule outright, while many others are undecided.


Representatives from London and Brussels were reluctant to describe the position as a stalemate, saying instead they were encouraged by signs of movement. For example, this year's summit included many more state bars than similar meetings in the recent past.


But, according to the Europeans, the latest US offer to the Doha round of the World Trade Organisation negotiations in relation to legal services shows little sign of progress.


Hans-Jürgen Hellwig, president of the Council of the Bars and Law Societies of the European Union (CCBE), said: 'The US offer is just a reflection of the current state of the law - and the scope of that is very narrow.'


The problem, said Mr Hellwig, is that individual state bars are having difficulties agreeing their own domestic liberalisation of multi-jurisdictional practice for US lawyers from other states. They see the ABA model for foreign lawyers as being even more generous than their domestic proposals.


At the summit meeting, Ms Hook encouraged all US state bars to adopt the ABA model rule. She insisted that it made strong commercial sense as 'more and more states want to attract foreign investment' and that foreign companies would want to be advised by their own lawyers.


Ms Hook attempted to put the Americans at ease, saying: 'Foreign lawyers do not want to establish in your country to do your grannies' conveyancing work. They will follow their clients here and when they get here they will employ local lawyers.'