IBA Annual Conference Sydney 2017

8 Oct - 13 Oct 2017

Room C2.1, Convention Centre, Level 2

Session information

Fear of flying in Asia: a review of the FiFo environment in Asia and a global update - should ‘local lawyers’ be afraid of temporary ‘foreign lawyers’?

Tuesday 10 October (1430 - 1730)

Room C2.1, Convention Centre, Level 2

Committee(s)

Anti-Money Laundering and Sanctions Expert Subcommittee (Lead)
BIC International Trade in Legal Services Committee
Immigration and Nationality Law Committee

Description

As lawyers we often ‘fly in and fly out’ (FiFo) of countries without a care, but are we breaching regulatory and/or immigration rules, or creating tax liabilities in doing so? In a post-Trump, post-Brexit world, the ability of lawyers to cross borders on a temporary basis has become even less certain. The capacity of governments to negotiate, let alone implement trade agreements that clarify the position of cross-border professional services providers, has become increasingly limited. Nonetheless, the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA), as well as various other regional initiatives, such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, remain on the negotiating table and our session will include a contribution from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Australia, which is chairing the legal services chapter of the TiSA negotiations. So the world is getting less and less FiFo-friendly, while in parallel, lawyers are becoming even more international. Should the IBA publish some ‘good practice options’ for trade negotiators and regulators to move this debate forward in a way that assists international practice while respecting local regulation and helping the local legal environment to develop? How do we ensure the legal profession can be international?

Session / Workshop Chair(s)

Alison Hook Hook Tangaza, London, England; Vice Chair, BIC International Trade in Legal Services Committee
Stephen Revell Making Change Happen , London, England; Member, Law Firm Management Committee Advisory Board

Speakers

Lalit Bhasin Society of Indian Law Firms, New Delhi, Delhi, India; Honorary Life Member of IBA Council and Association
Guillermo Canalejo Lasarte Uria Menendez, Madrid, Spain; Membership Officer - Europe, Taxes Committee
Kim Debenham Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Hanim Hamzah KPMG, Singapore, Singapore
Mickael Laurans The Law Society of England and Wales, London, England; Vice Chair, BIC International Trade in Legal Services Committee
Catherine Sas KC Sas & Ing Immigration Law Centre, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; Senior Vice Chair, Immigration and Nationality Law Committee