Author ORCID iD
0000-0003-4105-9562
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Summer 2005
Abstract
This article addresses the many significant transnational legal practice developments that took place in 2003 and 2004, which were particularly significant years. After a short introduction, Section II describes international developments, and Section III describes domestic regulatory developments affecting lawyers engaged in multijurisdictional practice.
The developments in Section II include those related to the WTO’s General Agreement on Trade in Services [GATS] negotiations. This section summarizes the 2003-04 status of the legal services request-offer process, including the United States’ “offer” and its proposed changes to the legal services portion of its Schedule of Specific Commitments. The article described a “Summit” among U.S., U.K., and E.U. legal services stakeholders, and a meeting with the USTR. The article also described conversations among WTO Member States and the WTO Secretariat with respect to the terminology that countries use to describe legal services in their GATS commitments. (For additional information on this “Summit” and these WTO issues, see https://ideas.dickinsonlaw.psu.edu/fac-works/342/ (ABA TLP “Summit” history) and https://ideas.dickinsonlaw.psu.edu/fac-works/173, which describes the IBA’s Resolutions regarding legal services terminology and disciplines).
In addition to discussing GATS developments, Section II describes three EU developments, including legal services-related antitrust (competition) law developments, the new EU money laundering directive, and the EU’s proposed services directive. It also describes changes in Japan’s Foreign Lawyer Act.
The article discusses four sets of U.S. TLP-related developments. Section III(A) described state implementation of the ABA’s Model Foreign Legal Consultant Rule and Model Rule for Temporary Practice by Foreign Lawyers, both of which were the subject of ABA MJP Commission resolutions. Section III(B) focused on the treatment of legal services in U.S. free trade agreements and bilateral investment treaties, including the Chile, Singapore, and Australian FTAs. Section III(C) examined some of the state regulatory concerns that had been raised about USTR negotiation of legal services. Section III(D) focused on the role of the American Bar Association, including efforts to increase dialogue among both domestic and international stakeholders and the reformation of the ABA GATS Task Force and the adoption of its mission statement. (The Task Force was later converted to the ABA Standing Committee on International Trade in Legal Services).
Publication Title
Int'l Law.
Recommended Citation
Robert E. Lutz, Philip T. von Mehren, Laurel S. Terry, Peter Ehrenhaft, Carole Silver, Clifford J. Hendel, Jonathan Goldsmith, and Masahiro Shimojo, Transnational Legal Practice Developments, 39 Int'l Law. 619 (2005). Available at: https://ideas.dickinsonlaw.psu.edu/fac-works/186/
