Restriction forbidding lawyers from business-running lifted; the trade plans to take overseas market together

The Legislative Yuan yesterday (January 8) passed the third reading of the amendment to part of the Lawyers’ Law, lifting the restriction that practicing lawyers can only apply for registration with four district courts where they are allowed to practice their profession, and deleting the provision preventing lawyers from running business concurrently.  As the existing restriction on lawyers’ practicing areas has been deleted from the amended Lawyers’ Law, lawyers, in the future, may petition for registration with every district court in Taiwan, so as to protect their right of work and to fully realize people’s right of action.  However, they must first join in the bar associations in the places where their primary office is located and where they practice the law.  Further, lawyers used to be forbidden from running profit-seeking businesses simultaneously.  This restriction also is deleted from said amendment.  Instead, the new rule only forbids lawyers from participating in trades that will prejudice attorneys’ dignities and reputation.  If a case is commissioned, appointed or entrusted to a lawyer, he/she shall not engage in conducts that are improper or counter to his/her duties.  

The new Lawyers’ Law has substantially loosened the restraint on attorneys’ concurrent running of business.  Therefore, the International Bar Association of the R.O.C. decides to push ahead with a “strategic alliance” aimed at the markets of the Mainland China and our nearby countries.  Additionally, under the framework of the WTO, it is legitimate for major law firms and enterprise groups from all over the world to run relevant business in Taiwan.  The market competition is expected to enter into the Age of Wars.

Source: Economic Daily 01/09/2002