In Asia's current success story, if Hong Kong is a stepping stone for China, then Singapore is destined to be the springboard for India and Southeast Asia. With career and professional growth in mind, Singapore has taken steps to liberalise industries across the board, and the legal services industry is no exception. It is gradually becoming the benchmark for legal practice in Asia, and ambitious lawyers from around the world are taking advantage of this.

The country's commitment to becoming a top international legal services hub and creating career opportunities for international legal services talent is notable. In July, the Singapore Institute of Legal Education (SILE) proposed an easing of the entry requirements for foreign lawyers to practise corporate law in Singapore. It is recommending that foreign lawyers who pass a Foreign Practitioner Exam (FPE) and have at least three years' experience be allowed to practise corporate law in Singapore in areas such as finance, banking and intellectual property, irrespective of their law degree.

SILE's proposal is the latest of many developments. In December 2008, the Government awarded six law firms with Qualified Foreign Law Practice (QLP) licences, allowing them to practise Singapore law with Singapore-qualified lawyers (excluding in a few areas, such as litigation). Last year, Singapore opened Maxwell Chambers, an international dispute resolution complex that positions Singapore at the forefront of international arbitration in Asia.

There is clearly a strong demand for lawyers due to the economic growth being experienced across the region, alongside the number of international law firms setting up in Singapore – indeed, the number of practising lawyers in Singapore grew by close to 10% between 2007 and 2009.

It is interesting to note that with a population of 5.1 million, Singapore has approximately 5,000 practising lawyers in the city-state. In contrast, the Australian territory of Victoria has a roughly similar population, but counts around 14,000 practitioners among its numbers – illustrating the sheer volume of growth potential apparent in Singapore's legal services market.

Given this massive growth potential, many lawyers are now considering Singapore as a possible location to fast track their careers. Organisations like Contact Singapore, a governmental body, provide a wealth of resources on the sector and career opportunities for interested parties.

Singapore is also achieving record levels of economic growth because of timely, intelligent and constant liberalisation. Singapore is predicted to be Asia's fastest-growing economy in 2010, with gross domestic product growth of around 15% in 2010. The legal sector is playing its part in that, growing 4.3% in 2009, and clearly, there is vast potential for it to grow in tandem with the wider economy.

Growth for 2011 will be comparatively more subdued and is expected to be in the region of 4%-6%. But this lower prediction is still impressive when compared with some of the region's global counterparts. This provides a clear reasoning for why the number of international law firms in Singapore grew by around 26% year-on-year between 2007 and 2009 and there are now more than 100 firms registered. This systematic introduction of foreign firms into Singapore provided a measured approach for introducing competitive elements into a market that was previously not accessible to international firms. There is every indication that the Government plans to introduce additional QLP licenses to firms in the coming years and already many international firms are announcing intentions to open offices in Singapore or set up alliances with Singaporean law firms. Similar announcements are being made every few weeks.

Nish Shetty is head of international arbitration at Clifford Chance's Southeast Asia office.