| On 19th February, Jones Day and Sidley Austin LLP announced that they had been awarded licenses under the Singapore Qualifying Foreign Law Practice Scheme (QFLP.) This is seen to be a significant watershed for the firms given that they will now be able to practice stipulated areas of law in Singapore, without the previous need to establish a joint venture with a local firm in order to do so.
The first clutch of firms which were permitted to practice domestic law in Singapore were Latham & Watkins, Clifford Chance, Herbert Smith, Norton Rose, Allen & Overy and White & Case. These licenses were awarded in December 2008, when a decision was made by the Singapore government to begin liberalising the legal sector incrementally. Over the course of the last six years, the Singapore government has reviewed the issue of liberalisation in the context of the legal sector. Towards the tail end of 2007, it considered a series of proposals which were intended to open up the legal industry to foreign firms. The position, prior to December 2008 was that foreign law firms were only permitted to practice permitted areas of Singapore law through the vehicle of a joint venture established with a local practice. Since then, however the government has taken steps to introduce the QFLP scheme which enables firms to practice predominantly commercial and corporate law. Areas of practice which remain ring-fenced are criminal law, conveyancing, constitutional and administrative law, family law, succession and trust law and litigation. |
Two firms hail a watershed moment in Singapore after licenses awarded under QFLP Scheme
