Plans to move forward with the long-awaited liberalisation of the Singapore legal market have been met with a lukewarm reaction from international firms operating in the jurisdiction, who say the new recommendations do not go far enough to open up the restrictive Asian market.

The Singapore Government announced yesterday (6 December) that it will accept proposals made by a special committee to liberalise its legal sector, including a scheme to offer five foreign firms a license to practise local law by employing Singapore-qualified lawyers.

However, with Singapore already host to more than 15 firms from the UK alone, demand for the licenses among foreign advisers seems almost certain to outstrip supply.

A government statement said firms that wished to be eligible for the Qualifying Foreign Law Firm (QFLF) scheme would have to demonstrate their commitment to Singapore as well as outlining a business model for the office.

Commenting on the move, Law Society head of international Alison Hook said: "It is a step in the right direction but a very small one. We strongly oppose the idea of quantitative limits and will be lobbying [on this point] going forward."

One Singapore-based partner at an international firm added: "It is disappointing but we were not really expecting much better. It will be interesting to see the details of the scheme [and] we will not be making any decisions until it is all out on the table."

Another significant recommendation by the committee, which was headed by Justice V K Rajah, was the extension of the existing joint venture (JV) model allowing foreign firms to cooperate with a local practitioners – a model that has been widely criticised by overseas entrants to the market.

Under the so-called 'enhanced JV' scheme, foreign firms would be able to take on a limited number of Singapore-qualified lawyers depending on the size of their local practice.

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