Regulatory framework for legal services sector in selected EU member states: implications for Indian legal professionals

Abstract

Legal services are amongst the most protected services across the globe. The protection comes mainly from regulatory barriers related to qualification recognition, residency conditions, area of practice etc. The European Union (EU) also has various regulations affecting the supply and availability of legal services in its Member States. Some of these regulations are common across the Member States whereas some are unique to particular Member States. An examination of the regulatory framework for legal services in the selected EU Member countries, namely, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden and the UK, reveals that these countries have varying degrees of restrictiveness for foreign legal professionals. These countries in general have liberal regulatory regimes for persons belonging to the EU area but not for non-EU nationals including India. Hence, the legal services market in these countries is not very open for Indian legal professionals and the movement of Indian legal professionals to these EU Member States is restricted.The type of law that can be practiced as well the capacity in which a foreign legal professional can work in the selected EU Member State is also subject to restrictions except for the UK and Sweden which have liberal regulatory regimes. However, the latter is once again more applicable to the nationals of the other EU Member States than to non EU nationals. Moreover, the liberal environment in these countries is nullified by restrictive work visa conditions and other related requirements that are applied to non EU nationals. These restrictions are likely to affect Indian legal professionals more than any other country given the large number of legal professionals in India, the desire of foreign law firms to hire Indian legal professionals and cultural, linguistic and other similarities between India and the UK, which is the most important legal services market in the EU. As India is becoming a knowledge hub in all spheres, and Indian legal professionals are aspiring to work overseas, India and the EU need to devise a strategy so that the legal qualifications obtained in India are well recognized in the EU member States and Indian legal professionals can contribute to the latter's economies