Australia and nearby countries.

• Author: Carson, Nicholas
• Position: Foreign Lawyers in Foreign Jurisdictions: Rights of Practice and Establishment

AUSTRALIA

WITH THE increasing internationalization of legal services, Australia has taken active steps to promote the participation of foreign lawyers in the practice of foreign law in Australia. As the Chairman of ILSAC said in June 1993, "The wider the range of legal services we can offer in this country, the greater will be our attraction as a centre for international commerce. To enhance our range of services, we must permit and encourage foreign lawyers to come here to practice their own law, whether as partners in Australian firms or as sole practitioners."

The object of having foreign lawyers practising in Australia is to enable Australian and internationally based clients to receive the widest spread of legal skills and be served according to the highest professional standards.

Foreign lawyers

In Australia, the practice of foreign law as a separate recognized field of legal practice is not directly regulated by legislation, except in Tasmania. Elsewhere, although not directly regulated, that practice falls within the unqualified practitioner provisions of legislation regulating the legal profession. The professional regulatory bodies in some Australian states have issued guidelines for the practice of foreign law. The guidelines generally relate to the provision of legal advice by foreign lawyers and the manner in which that advice can be provided, or employ domestic lawyers.

Foreign lawyers have no status to practice Australian law nor to appear in any Australian court. People who are qualified and admitted to practice in another country and who are admitted to practice as a domestic lawyer in an Australian jurisdiction would cease to be regarded as foreign lawyers.

Keep in mind that Australia is a federal commonwealth and the right to practice law is regulated by the states rather than the commonwealth. In 1992, the Law Council of Australia, which is a body composed of the state and territorial law societies, issued a Policy Statement on International Legal Practise. The policy principles endorsed by the Law Council are:

* that globalization of legal practice should be actively encouraged in the interests of increasing trade and investment activity between Australia and its trading partners;

* that it is necessary that the legal needs of the Australian community, especially the needs of the international business community in Australia, should be served according to the highest professional standards;

* that it is necessary in the public interest that the community should be readily able to distinguish domestic lawyers, who are able to provide the full range of legal services to the community, from accredited foreign lawyers who can only carry on foreign legal practice;

* that no Australian citizenship or residency...