Govey, Ian --- "The Export of Professional Legal Services: ILSAC and the Australian Experience" [2010] ELECD 422; 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 6

Section Title: The Export of Professional Legal Services: ILSAC and the Australian Experience

Author(s): Govey, Ian

Number of pages: 10

Extract:

6. The export of professional legal
services: ILSAC and the Australian
experience
Ian Govey*

Internationalisation of trade and commerce is not a new or recent phenom-
ena. However, the speed and depth of that internationalisation over the
last 20 years, particularly the internationalisation of trade in services, has
been remarkable. The World Trade Organisation's General Agreement on
Trade in Services (GATS) came into force on 1 January 1995 encouraging
greater liberalisation and introducing a set of rules for international trade
in services. Overall, Australia's services exports grew by over 80 per cent
over the next ten years from 1996.
In 1989, when the Law School at Bond opened, Australia's exports
of legal services totalled Aus$67m.1 In 2006­07, a survey commissioned
by the International Legal Services Advisory Council (ILSAC) revealed
that legal services exports amounted to Aus$675 million.2 Over the last
20 years, with the growth in international trade and investment, law firms
have followed their clients to numerous countries to provide legal services
sought by clients at a standard and quality known to them.
This internationalisation process has, over the last two decades, pro-
vided Australian law firms with new opportunities for growth internation-
ally. This potential is welcomed by our law firms, particularly as the highly
competitive domestic market appears to provide limited opportunities for
further growth for the larger firms.
These international legal services are typically provided through estab-
lishing a branch office, including joint ventures and formal alliances over-
...