Corcoran, John --- "Law: A Global Practice – Perspectives on the Internationalisation of Legal Services Markets" [2010] ELECD 420; in Hiscock, Mary; van Caenegem, William (eds), "The Internationalisation of Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010)

Book Title: The Internationalisation of Law

Editor(s): Hiscock, Mary; van Caenegem, William

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849801027

Section: Chapter 4

Section Title: Law: A Global Practice – Perspectives on the Internationalisation of Legal Services Markets

Author(s): Corcoran, John

Number of pages: 8

Extract:

4. Law: a global practice ­ perspectives
on the internationalisation of legal
services markets
John Corcoran*

CONTEXT ­ THE CHANGING WORLD

As we are all aware, over the past 20 years, rapid developments in
globalisation and technology have dramatically changed the way in
which we practise law. Personal computing, the internet and advances
in telecommunications have changed the lives of both lawyers and
their clients. At the same time, the adoption of the `free trade' model
has driven liberalisation of markets and importantly for lawyers, legal
services markets.
In the midst of so much change, the direction that legal practice will
take in the future is not exactly clear. What is clear, however, is that
there has been a trend from closed to open markets ­ and if practices in
Australia wish to grow, they need to look internationally, because this
new paradigm for business is not going to go away. So what is this new
paradigm?
Today, elections are won on `Twitter', `You Tube' and `My Space'
before a vote has been cast.1 Today, wars are broadcast live on prime
time television. Today, `ecommerce' means that billions of dollars can
be transferred almost instantaneously around the world. Today, supply
chains, business networks, clients and every facet of resource manage-
ment can be accessed at the click of a button. Today, poor lending
practices by banks in the United States of America (US) can result in a
global financial crisis which has thrown most of the developed world into
recession.
The landscape ...