An Introduction to the Paris Forum on Transnational Practice for the Legal Profession

Penn State International Law Review Volume 18 Number 1 Dickinson Journal of International Law Article 2 9-1-1999 An Introduction to the Paris Forum on Transnational Practice for the Legal Profession Laurel S. Terry Follow this and additional works at: https://elibrary.law.psu.edu/psilr Part of the Transnational Law Commons Recommended Citation Laurel S. Terry, An Introduction to the Paris Forum on Transnational Practice for the Legal Profession, 18 Penn St. Int'l L. Rev. 1 (1999). This Front Matter is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews and Journals at Penn State Law eLibrary. It has been accepted for inclusion in Penn State International Law Review by an authorized editor of Penn State Law eLibrary. For more information, please contact . An Introduction to the Paris Forum on Transnational Practice for the Legal Profession Laurel S. Terry During two historic days in Paris in November of 1998, representatives from around the world joined together to discuss the transnational practice of law. The Paris Forum on TransnationalPracticefor the Legal Profession is historic because it was the first meeting of multiple bar associations devoted entirely to a discussion of the transnational practice of law. Before the Paris Forum, some bar organizations had set aside time during their meetings to discuss the transnational practice of law and transnationallegal services had been included as a topic in general conferences that were not limited to legal services or legal topics. The Paris Forum, however, was the first meeting of lawyers from around the world devoted solely to this topic. The Paris Forum also provided the first opportunity for three of the world's leading bars to circulate discussion papers outlining their views on various transnational practice issues. Because the issues addressed at the Paris Forum will be central to the next millennium and the regulation of lawyers throughout the world, it is important to describe how and why this meeting occurred, the pre-meeting preparations and the nature and results of the meeting. The Paris Forum has the potential to affect the system of justice and rule of law throughout the world; Dickinson's Journal of International Law is therefore extraordinarily pleased to have the opportunity to memorialize the Professor of Law, The Dickinson School of Law of The Pennsylvania State University; J.D., 1980, UCLA School of Law. Professor Terry attended the Paris Forum as one of five designated ABA observers. Professor Terry would like to thank the sponsors of the Paris Bar for their support of this project. In addition, Professor Terry would like to acknowledge the assistance and support of Peter Glenn, Stuart Kreindler and Jane Rigler. 2 DICKINSON JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW [Vol. 18:1 Forum's work. It is a pleasure for me to introduce the Paris Forum and set it in context. By agreement with the Paris Forum sponsoring bar associations, this Introduction is descriptive, rather than evaluative. Indeed, one might conclude that my Introduction is too descriptive, with its inclusion of details about who was invited, who attended, the locale, the hospitality and the agenda items. I deliberately have chosen to err on the side of over-inclusion, rather than under-exclusion because such seemingly trivial details, in hindsight, may be viewed as quite significant to the development and regulation of transnational legal practice. For example, in hindsight, one might conclude that the discussions about the shape of the table at the Vietnam War-Paris Peace Talks were relevant to the outcome of the peace talks.' Similarly, a reduction in the size of the negotiating groups has been credited with some of the breakthroughs in the Northern Ireland Peace Talks. Karen Dillon's reporting about the GATS agreement has shown how seemingly small factors led to the surprise result of legal services being covered by GATS.3 In short, Marshall McLuhan may indeed have been correct when he said "the medium is the message.",4 Because there was very little contemporaneous reporting about the Forum (and no other source for legislative history or background information) and because it is premature to know what is important and what is trivial, I have included details that some readers may find boring; therefore, I ask the reader's indulgence if some of these details appear trivial or irrelevant. Section 1 of this Introduction briefly introduces the phenomenon, ever increasing, of the transnational practice of law. Section 2 provides a brief overview of some regulatory responses 1. See, e.g., War Reviewed at Paris Meeting; 'Why Did You Desert Us?' Vietnamese Ask Kissinger, L.A. TIMES (Dec. 5, 1987) at A38 (reporting that a detail that delayed Vietnam War-Paris Peace talks for many months was the shape of the table at which the U.S. and North Vietnamese delegation should sit and that finally, it was agreed the table should be rectangular, and the amount of space allocated to each delegate was measured down to the last centimeter.) 2. See, e.g., Kevin Cullen, Negotiating Table Getting Smaller in Belfast, B. GLOBE, Dec. 9, 1997 available in 1997 WL 16086364; see also Gregory Gordon, ProtocolSlips Could Threaten Peace Talks, DET. NEWS, Oct. 20, 1991 available in 1991 WL 4666881 (describing relationship to Mideast peace talks of protocol issues such as who shakes hands, who sits where, who speaks first, what language, what food, and whether flags are displayed). 3. Karen Dillon, Unfair Trade? AM. LAW. Apr. 1994, at 54-57. See infra note 12 and accompanying text for a discussion of the GATS. 4. MARSHALL MCLUHAN, THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE: AN INVENTORY OF EFFECrS (1968). 1999] INTRODUCTION TO PARIS FORUM to transnational legal practice. In particular, this section notes the inclusion of legal services as one of the services covered by the GATS (General Agreement on Trades in Services). Section 3 explains the objectives of the Paris Forum, including its relationship to the GATS. Section 4 summarizes the preparations made for the ParisForum. Section 5 introduces the work product of the Paris Forum, including the conference agenda and discussion papers prepared by the three major sponsors on certain agreedupon issues. Section 6 summarizes the events of the ParisForum. Section 7 concludes with some observations about the future of transnational legal practice regulation. 1. The Transnational Practice of Law Phenomenon Most lawyers still work in relatively small firms and still work within the confines of their own country's borders Nevertheless, the "globalization" phenomenon clearly has hit legal services. An increasing number of lawyers work with foreign clients, work with foreign lawyers or a foreign legal system, or work, at least occasionally, in foreign countries.6 This growth should not be too 5. See, e.g., Richard L. Abel, TransnationalLaw Practice, 44 CASE W. RES. L. REV. 737, 738 (1994) ("transnational law practice i (...truncated)