Rethinking Jurisdictional Barriers to Practising Law Abroad: A Soft Technological Deterministic Approach

Abstract

The regulation of legal practice has been based predominantly on geographical boundaries. To varying degrees, foreign lawyers are prohibited from engaging in the practice of law in host jurisdictions without local admission, and in some cases with the added complexity of nationality or residency requirements. This is notwithstanding that increasing international trade and other transnational activities, enabled by advancements in technology that facilitate efficient transportation and communication, are creating a growing demand for legal services across borders. While much has been written about how technology is changing the nature of legal practice, the approach taken by this article is to assess whether technology is playing this change-role in a solely deterministic manner. In examining this question, this article applies soft technological determinism to argue that, while technology is an important factor, it does not have a mono-causal effect in shaping changes to cross-border legal practice. Rather, these changes are being influenced by an interplay of technological progress and non-technological factors such as similarities in legal systems, harmonisation of laws and trade affiliations.

Keywords

• technological determinism
• legal profession
• regulatory barriers
• cross-border practice
• foreign lawyers