A raft of City firms are hoping to expand their presence in Singapore by applying for licences to practise local law in the country.

Legal Week has learned that DLA Piper, Lovells, Ashurst, Herbert Smith and Norton Rose are all planning to apply for licences to provide local-law advice in Singapore. However, Linklaters and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have told Legal Week they have no plans to do so, while Clifford Chance (CC) is intending to hold off making a decision until it sees further details from the Singapore Government.

The news comes as it emerges that the Singapore Government has kicked off a consultation with representatives from international firms to discuss how the local practices would work.

The Government is also preparing to send out details to those firms interested in applying for licences within the next few months, following its December proposals to liberalise the market by granting up to five international firms licences to hire local lawyers and practise local law.

International firms have been able to practice in Singapore through joint ventures with local firms since 2000. The system has seen a number of City firms, including Linklaters, Allen & Overy, CC and Lovells, ally themselves with local players. However, some deals have collapsed, including those forged by Freshfields, White & Case and Shearman & Sterling.

DLA Piper is among those firms with a Singapore hub for international work, but no joint venture to practise local law. The firm's Singapore managing partner, Desmond Ong (pictured), told Legal Week: "Our work has an international or regional angle anyway. However, we are enthusiastic about the proposal of liberalisation."

Veronica O'Shea, managing partner at Herbert Smith, which operates in the same way as DLA Piper, said: "We are interested in taking advantage of any opportunity that comes in this market. I get the impression this may be a contained first step – this is not the beginning and the end."

Richard Good, a partner at Linklaters' Singapore office, told Legal Week: "Our joint venture with Allen & Gledhill has been very successful and we are completely happy. Based on that I do not think there would be any point in applying [for a licence to practise local law]. We are very fortunate."

International firms are optimistic that the consultation may result in more than five firms winning licences to practise local law in the region.

Ashurst Singapore head Matthew Bubb said: "There will only be five licences for the first 18-24 months, then a reassessment. My suspicion is [after that time] more than five firms will receive licences. There is a lot of pressure from the market to open up to more firms."

In a separate initiative to make the country more attractive to international firms, from February this year foreigners have been able to carry out arbitration and mediation activities without a work pass. The move follows last year's introduction of a tax break for law firms acting on international arbitrations.