Globalisation: training is key to preventing the dominance of Anglo-Saxon legal systems

The Union Internationale des Avocats (UIA), the oldest international lawyers' organisation, is to set up a foundation that will provide training for young lawyers from developing countries in a bid to help them compete with UK and US firms.


Speaking at the UIA's 49th annual conference in Fez, Morocco, president Paul Nemo said the university education and subsequent training periods that lawyers in developing countries undergo left them ill-equipped to take on large international firms - particularly in the field of business law.


'Access to the law is a notion that has a bright future - but everyone needs to be on an equal footing,' Mr Nemo said. 'We talk a lot about access to the law for the public, but we should not forget the need for access to the law for lawyers themselves.'


He acknowledged that international firms could provide local lawyers with job opportunities, as well as experience and access to know-how in transactional work. But he added: 'The big US and English law firms take work away from young lawyers in emerging countries. That is something I have learned during my time as UIA president.' Local lawyers often remained as employees and found their chances of partnership restricted, he told the Gazette.


The foundation will require an initial 50,000-100,000 euro (£34,000-68,000) to establish. Mr Nemo, a Paris-based real estate lawyer who runs his own practice, said the UIA will contact large companies and law firms that might be interested in funding the development of young lawyers in regions such as Eastern Europe and sub-Saharan Africa.


The foundation is also expected to provide training in human rights, both for individual lawyers and for bar associations in developing countries.


Mr Nemo told the Gazette of his concerns that globalisation could lead to domination by Anglo-Saxon legal systems. He insisted that there should be respect for individual systems, and that one should not be stronger than another.


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