Lord Chancellor launches bid to open up Asia-Pacific markets to UK law firms

LEGAL SERVICES: three-country tour puts Lord Irvine's new role of sponsor under the spotlight

The Lord Chancellor's attempt to put himself at the forefront of UK efforts to export legal services will be put to the test for the first time this week when he departs for an official visit to Australia, Hong Kong and Japan.

It comes at a time when the automatic right of Hong Kong lawyers to requalify as English solicitors is under review.

Solicitors face obstacles to practise in all three countries and Lord Irvine will be expected to make good on his assertion in July that 'government can, on occasion, do things that private enterprise cannot'.

Lord Irvine also announced at the time that he was assuming a new sponsoring role for the international legal services market and a co-ordinating role across Whitehall.

He said: 'Our legal sector is one of our most successful exporters.'

Among several meetings, Lord Irvine will have talks with the Australian attorney-general, Hong Kong's secretary of justice, and Japan's prime minister and minister of justice.

In addition, he will meet each country's chief justice as well as English law firms in Hong Kong and Japan.

Firms face the greatest problems in the key market of Japan, where they are unable to go into partnership or employ Japanese lawyers.

In Australia, it is far harder for English lawyers to requalify locally than it is for Australian lawyers in England and Wales.

Since the handover to China, Hong Kong has ended the practice of allowing English solicitors to requalify automatically, as Hong Kong lawyers still do in England and Wales.

Sue Darling, the Law Society's acting International policy executive for Asia Pacific, said she hoped Lord Irvine's visit would prompt progress in all three countries, allied with continuing bilateral representations and the GATS 2000 round of trade liberalisation talks.

A recent report from the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry recommended ending the restrictions on foreign firms, but diplomatic sources in Japan have said it will have no effect on the key Ministry of Justice or the Japanese Bar.

Nonetheless, it is seen as helpful in 'maintaining the momentum' for change, they said.

Many hundreds of Hong Kong lawyers have requalified in England and Wales automatically in recent years.

Jonathan Goldsmith, the Law Society's international director, said this exemption is now under review, although he stressed it is not related to the change of policy in Hong Kong over English solicitors.

The question is whether, following the handover, the English and Hong Kong legal systems are as similar as they were when the exemption was first put in place, he said.

Lord Irvine's first intervention in practice rights issues - in Slovakia earlier this year - proved successful.

Neil Rose