4.
qualified as a Hong Kong solicitor and his firm was eligible for the grant of local practice rights, the locally qualified foreign lawyer would be able to have
14 other staff (1+ (6+8) the 8:1 ratio rule) and one registered foreign lawyer (the 1:1 ratio test proposed for local firms).
The
acquisition
of local practice rights by a foreign law firm would also mean that certain of the Scheme's restrictions which would ordinarily apply to registered foreign law firms and registered foreign lawyers would
cease to have effect.
One example would be the
prohibition on registered foreign lawyers and registered foreign law firms from employing or taking into partnership Hong Kong solicitors to practise Hong
Kong law.
The
who were
Committee's objective is to have foreign law firms with Hong Kong law practices present themselves to the Hong Kong public in the same way as English law firms
now do. Accordingly, only those partners in the firm
Hong Kong solicitors with unconditional certificates could be shown as partners of Kong law practice, all other qualified legal who were not also Hong Kong solicitors having
their status clearly specified on the
practising
the Hong
personnel
to
have
notepaper.
who
The result would be
that the individuals held out as
partners of the Hong Kong law practice would be those would be personally accountable for the practice of law in Hong Kong
Kong by that practice and subject to the usual disciplinary sanctions, as is presently the case with all English law firms in Hong Kong.
23