The Americans state that Hong Kong firms are not restricted from setting up offices in a number of states in the U.S.A., and from taking into partnership or employ- ing American lawyers, but they do not describe (a) the difficulties in obtaining visas in order to enter the U.S. to do so, (b) that in practice not one Hong Kong lawyer has done so, or (c) that in the vast majority of states, foreign lawyers are not admitted even for the purpose of advising on the foreign laws in which they are qualified.
-The Americans continually cite a local firm in which there are to be found a number of lawyers quali. fied overseas as an example of their proposal in action. In fact the part- ners in that firm are all qualified in Hong Kong. The Law Society has no objection to foreign lawyers qualifying in Hong Kong and thereafter practising local law on equal terms with local lawyers.
The Americans describe the need for qualification as a Hong Kong lawyer before becoming involved in the practice of Hong Kong law as an artificial trade barrier erected on anti-competitive grounds. Nothing could be further from the truth.
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In correspondence with the Law Society, the Attorney General has confirmed that it cannot be right in principle for lawyers who are not qualified in our system of law to be permitted to advise on and practise Hong Kong law and that there is no suggestion that currently available legal services in Hong Kong are lacking in quality.
The true ambitions of the U.S. law firms must be understood. For obvious reasons, they wish to be able to practise Hong Kong law without taking exams or undergoing any period of training and are not satisfied with the Govern- ment's present proposal,
The proposal, and the methods by which the decision has been taken, have been condemned not only by both branches of the legal profession (the rejection by the Law Society having occurred at an extraordinary general meeting at which vlose to sixty per cent of the entire legat profession in Hong Kong was represented, and over ninety-seven per cent of those so represented voted against the pro- posal) but also by the governing bodies of eight professions representing 24,000 professional peorie who live and work in Hong Kong
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