International legal services
What are international legal services?
International legal services concern the international or transnational trade in legal services. Legal services generally refer to advisory, research or representation services provided by a qualified lawyer or a law firm. Defined broadly, the term includes arbitration and conciliation services, and legal education.
The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) identifies four ways in which services can be traded internationally (the ‘four modes of service delivery’):
- Mode one—Cross-border: a lawyer undertakes work for a client in a different country (eg through video conference or correspondence).
- Mode two—Consumption abroad: a client travels abroad to seek the services of an overseas-based lawyer, or to seek legal education overseas.
- Mode three—Commercial presence: a lawyer or firm establishes an office in another country.
- Mode four—Movement of natural persons: a lawyer flies overseas to deliver legal services to a client, or flies overseas with a client to assist them overseas (also called ‘fly-in, fly-out’).
What are the benefits of international legal services?
Legal business services underpin international trade and investment. Together with other business services like accountancy, management consultancy and computer and information technology services they are increasingly critical to the growth of trade and investment across borders.
Legal services enable and facilitate business activity by defining rights and the responsibilities and processes for dispute resolution where commercial conflicts arise. Increasingly, legal services involve professionals skilled in the business services of several countries or jurisdictions involved in an investment, trade or transaction, not just one country or jurisdiction.
Removal of unnecessary regulatory barriers to legal and other business services provides benefits to countries through increased efficiencies and economic growth. Users of legal business services benefit from a greater choice of suppliers, the availability of integrated business services and the introduction of new technologies in the development and supply of such services.
What are the barriers to international legal services?
Some countries have restrictions on the extent to which foreign lawyers can practise law in those countries. While all countries will impose requirements that lawyers must meet in order to practise law, market barriers will exist where those requirements discriminate between local and overseas lawyers.
Such market barriers can include additional study requirements or number of years’ practice in the overseas jurisdictions, or a prohibition on providing certain kinds of legal services.
What is being done about barriers to international legal services?
Australia promotes the liberalisation of trade in legal services through trade negotiations at the multilateral, regional and bilateral levels.
- At the multilateral level, liberalisation is pursued through the framework of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) under the World Trade Organisation. More information is available on the WTO and the liberalisation of trade in legal services.
- At the regional level, Australia promotes the liberalisation of legal services through the Individual Action Plan Process and capacity building initiatives under the Asia-Pacific Economic Forum (APEC).
- At the bilateral level, legal services liberalisation is pursued primarily through free trade agreement and similar bilateral negotiations.
Additional information on Australia’s activities in each of these areas is available from:
- the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (for information on Australia’s international trade), and
- the International Legal Services Advisory Council (for information specific to legal services).
Who is involved?
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is responsible for Australia’s international trade negotiations. The Attorney-General's Department works with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and with the Law Council of Australia, representing the Australian legal profession, to promote the liberalisation of trade in legal services internationally.
The Australian Government has established the International Legal Services Advisory Council (ILSAC), a high-level independent advisory council with members drawn from both government and private sectors, to advise the Attorney-General on matters relevant to Australia’s international performance in legal and related services. The Attorney-General's Department’s International Legal Services Policy Section also functions as the ILSAC Secretariat.