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www.lawcrossing.com continued on bac

11/05/11

As an example, according to the

November 1st abajournal.com

article, Despite Globalization,Lawyers Find New Barriers to Practicing Abroad Lisa A. Alfaro

is the partner in charge of Gibson, Dunn & Crutchers Sao

Paulo ofce in Brazil, and she co-chairs the Latin America

practice group. As well, she speaks both Portuguese and

Spanish uently, and holds dual licensure in California and

New York. However, even despite all of her credentials, she

is forbidden to counsel clients on Brazilian law, as per rules

established by Brazils national bar association.

She was quoted in the abajournal.com article as saying:

The fact that we cant practice locally is certainly the largest

challenge we face. I make it clear to each client that they have

to talk to the Brazil counsel about an issue, even if I am up-

to-date on the law.

Furthermore, an opinion afrmed in February by the Sao Paulo

chapter of Brazils national bar association, initially issued

in 2010, could prove to make it even more challenging for

foreign attorneys such as Alfaro to work hand in hand with

local attorneys.

Per the article, it is unethical for Brazilian lawyers to create

any kind of formal all iance with foreign legal consultants;

these consultants are not actually lawyers under Brazilian

regulations, so alliances with them would violate Brazils ban

on multidisciplinary practice.

Should the national bar endorse said opinion, i t would serve

to force clients to use only local attorneys for counsel on

Brazilian law, and at the same time, allow foreign rms to

provide counsel on matters relating only to non-Brazilian law.

Actions such as this seem to draw a proverbial line in the

sand, and appear to directly contradict the very essence of

globalization, and the unied front it seemingly purports

to embrace. The question is, how will law rms be able to

overcome these differences?

Essentially, the proliferation of technology has irrevocablychanged the face of clients and the legal profession around

the world. However, by the same token this change has also

served to rapidly outpace the ability of the legal profession,

worldwide, to address both the professions, and clients needs

as rapidly, due largely to the lack of uniform standards and

regulations relating to both ethics and practice.

Glenn P. Hendrix, managing partner at Arnall Golden Gregory

in Atlanta and chair of the ABA Task Force on International

Trade in Legal Services was quoted as saying in the

abajournal.com article: Globally, major markets are opening

up. The outside world is banging at the doors of just about

every country in the world. The question is, how does thelocal legal profession respond? Every country is asking the big

questions: Is globalization a threat or an opportunity? If we

liberalize rules of practice for foreign lawyers, does it help or

hurt us?

Some countries make it much easier to practice within

their boundaries, such as Canada, the United Kingdom and

Australia. In addition, per the article, countries including

Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland and Mongolia, are

embracing foreign legal activity as a means of investing in

their economies.

However, interestingly, many of the most prohibitive pol icies

affecting foreign attorneys are in the four of the worlds

biggest and fastest growing economies, using the measure of

gross domestic product. They are: Brazil, Russia, India and

China; a.k.a. the BRIC countries.

The United States is the worlds largest national economy, and

it tends to fall somewhere between these two extremes.

Globalization: Buzzword or Reality for Law Firms?

By Rebecca E. Neely

Markets are becoming increasingly globalized and companies across the board are investing in emerging markets around the world,

including law firms. However, the many differences that exist between U.S. and foreign legal standards, regulations, practices and

other areas are, in many cases, proving to be major barriers.

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7/31/2019 Globalization: Buzzword or Reality for Law Firms?

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Looking forward, the legal profession recognizes the need to

address these issues. The ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20 is

spearheading one part of the effort; its purpose is to study the

impact of technology and globalization on professional conductrules for lawyers in the United States, and per the article, is

planning to submit proposed revisions to the ABA Model Rules

of Professional Conduct for consideration by the associations

policymaking House of Delegates in August at the 2012 annual

meeting in Chicago.

In the end, the true measure of success will be, unarguably,

whether the client is best served. It would seem the client

having access to a multi-faceted approach, as is offered by

attorneys such as Alfaro, and to the breadth of experience andknowledge as offered by an established rm such as Gibson,

Dunn and Crutcher, could only benet the client. If both law

rms and attorneys around the world are able to balance

opportunity, protability and client satisfaction, along with the

need for regulation, perhaps globalization can become not just

a buzzword, but a reality.

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