Why Lawyers Work In Other Places
With globalization comes the opportunity for lawyers to practice in other parts of the world. These days you can find lawyers who travel occasionally to serve existing clients, while others relocate and practice more or less permanently outside of the jurisdictions in which they originally were educated and licensed. It is possible that the reason why lawyers move is that they are associated with the foreign offices of law firms that are based in their home countries, with the international practices of host country law firms, or with corporations, NGOs, or other organizations having international interests that render attractive the intimate knowledge of a foreign legal system characteristic of these lawyers.
One thing that lawyers practicing outside of their jurisdiction should consider is the regulatory approach to practice of the host jurisdiction. It is possible for these lawyers to face several possible regulatory approaches. In this case, only lawyers who are traveling only occasionally may be permitted to advice in the host jurisdiction so long as they have no permanent presence, such as an office in the host jurisdiction.
The American Bar Association was the one who pushed for this in its recent recommendation for adoption of a temporary practice rule for non-US lawyers. However, most lawyers relocating more or less permanently to an office in the host jurisdiction often are under a lot of regulations. Most of the time, certain jurisdictions permit foreign lawyers to join the bar and practice as local lawyers based upon their home country legal education and license as supplemented by host country education and, in certain jurisdictions, practical training.
Sometimes there are jurisdictions that exclude foreign lawyers entirely unless they re-qualify in the same manner as domestic lawyers. Sometimes, they do allow foreign lawyers to occupy the limited practice status of a legal consultant. You will get a chance to learn more on the last of these options, the legal consultant status in this article.
Most foreign lawyers in the United States are faced with jurisdictional and substantive complexities relating to their practice opportunities. There are times when each jurisdiction will adopt only two sets of relevant rules. One set would determine the rights of foreign lawyers to sit for the state bar examination and be admitted as local lawyers with full practice rights. The rules might provide that an applicant with a degree from a foreign law school and some additional education in an US law school, short of a three year J.D., would satisfy the conditions for taking the bar exam.
More commonly, the rules prohibit applicants from sitting for the examination unless they have graduated from an ABA approved law school with a JD degree. In fact, jurisdictions vary widely in their policies regarding practice opportunities available to foreign lawyers. Around Twenty eight jurisdictions permit foreign educated lawyers to sit for their bar examinations, either on the basis of their foreign legal education, upon a showing of practical experience, after completing a brief period of US legal education, or a combination of these conditions. It is no surprise that in almost half of these places, the opportunity to sit for the bar is limited to foreign lawyers whose primary legal education was completed in a common law jurisdiction.
It is important to note that for the second set of rules the focus is on the rights of foreign lawyers to practice in the United States which offers a more limited license than bar admission. Having the legal consultant regime will allow foreign lawyers to practice outside of their home jurisdictions on the basis of their home country expertise. With that, there are now about Twenty-six jurisdictions have adopted legal consultant licensing regimes. With the legal consultant rules, it helps in the recognition that practice experience and certification in the home jurisdiction qualifies a lawyer to carry on the same activities in the host jurisdiction. This legal consultant concept has been endorsed by the ABA, which recommended its Model Rule on the Licensing of Legal Consultants to all jurisdictions.
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