City Research Online

Abstract

This article explores the extent to which the European Union has opened up its lucrative legal services market, noting that there are several aspects of the delivery of legal services which are missing from international commitments, either at the multilateral level through the World Trade Organization’s General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) or through bilateral Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). This incomplete liberalization can be contrasted with that which is available to legal professionals within the EU itself as a feature of the Single Market and the Lawyers Establishment Directive. The reasons for the incomplete liberalization of legal services to international providers is the result of a number of factors, including the de-centralized nature of the regulation of the legal profession across the EU and the reality that many matters of crucial interest to the legal profession are not included in FTAs, such as rights of audience before the EU courts. The approach to legal services by the EU illustrates both the advantages engendered by the Single Market and the limits of FTAs as instruments of economic liberalization

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in International Trade Law and Regulation following peer review. The definitive published version Collins, D. A. (2019). The (Non)Liberalization of Trade in Legal Services in the EU under the WTO GATS and FTAs. International Trade Law and Regulation, 2020(1) is available online on Westlaw UK or from Thomson Reuters DocDel service.
Publisher Keywords:	Legal services, WTO, GATS, FTAs, MRAs
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HF Commerce K Law > K Law (General)
Departments:	The City Law School > Academic Programmes The City Law School > International Law and Affairs Group
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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