India, China, Singapore and now it’s Malaysia’s turn to be told to open up their legal market…
ALB is reporting that a senior British government official has called on the Malaysian government to open up the legal sector to foreign firms.
They write:
Boyd McCleary, the British High Commissioner to Malaysia, said that the Malaysian government’s recent decision to review restrictions on foreign firms entering the services sector is welcomed by the UK.
"The [legal] market here has been closed," said McCleary. "We are aware there is discussion between the Bar Council, the government and another partner about the possibility of opening up the legal services sector. We pretty much welcome that," he said at a meeting at the Global Entrepreneurship Week 2009.
McCleary said that Malaysia will benefit from the market liberalisation, pulling more investment into the south Asian nation and fostering better trade relations with the UK.
"It is a win-win [situation for both countries]," he said. "We believe that at the moment Malaysia is closing itself off to some business which is being written in London and Singapore. We think that there is recognition on the part of the law firms and the government here. We would like to see some opening up of the sector – that would be beneficial on both sides," he said.
Read the full report at: http://asia.legalbusinessonline.com/news/breaking-news/32196/details.aspx
