Foreign firms look to Eastern promise
Legal Week Global reports
May 12, 2003 at 08:03 PM
2 minute read
Foreign firms are set to benefit from the widespread liberalisation of practice rights in Eastern Europe, after a number of key European Union (EU) accession states announced they are to implement the Rights of Establishment Directive.
Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia and Estonia have all told the European Commission (EC) that they are implementing the directive ahead of the accession of eight Central and Eastern European states to the EU in 2004.
The 1998 directive allows EU-based lawyers to practise across the EU under their home title and protects them from unfair and protective local bar rules.
Although several key Central and Eastern European countries have allowed foreign firms to open offices in the region, until now they have imposed a variety of restrictions in order to protect local law firms.
In Slovakia, UK lawyers were not allowed to practise under home title and had to form 'non-lawyer vehicles', while in Hungary foreign lawyers had to form a link with a local firm.
Law Society of England and Wales international policy executive for Europe, Mickel Laurans, told Legal Week Global: "We welcome any progress towards improving the legal system in Eastern Europe. Many UK firms have been very interested in the region for a long time and it offers many opportunities."
The news follows last October's announcement by the EC that 10 new countries would be welcomed into the EU from 2004.
Allen & Overy, Linklaters, Lovells, CMS Cameron McKenna and Clifford Chance all have offices in Central and Eastern Europe.
US firms that have invested heavily in the region include Squire Sanders & Dempsey, White & Case, Altheimer & Gray and Weil Gotshal & Manges.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllSkadden to Close in Shanghai and Make Cuts to China Corporate Practice
DWF Group's Canadian Firm Set to Add Fourth Office With 16-Lawyer Montreal Team
UK Law Firms Face £75M Money Laundering Investigations Alongside Russia Scrutiny
3 minute readTrending Stories
- 1The Law Firm Disrupted: Playing the Talent Game to Win
- 2A&O Shearman Adopts 3-Level Lockstep Pay Model Amid Shift to All-Equity Partnership
- 3Preparing Your Law Firm for 2025: Smart Ways to Embrace AI & Other Technologies
- 4BD Settles Thousands of Bard Hernia Mesh Lawsuits
- 5A RICO Surge Is Underway: Here's How the Allstate Push Might Play Out
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250