Justice secretary Ken Clarke and trade and investment minister Lord Green launched an “Action Plan” last week to promote the UK’s legal services sector overseas.
It includes an online promotional toolkit for trade and investment advisers and a commitment to send representatives from the legal profession along to any ministerial functions at home and overseas. Law firms and chambers will be encouraged to take part in overseas secondment opportunities.
The government is keen to capitalise on its strengths as it tries to rebuild the economy—the UK’s commercial dispute resolution and legal services sector generated £23.1bn or 1.8% of the UK’s gross domestic product in 2009.
Roger Smith, director of human rights group Justice, said: “We note that the government ‘aims to encourage overseas commercial clients to make use of UK legal services’.
“We very much support that. We wish it would demonstrate the same commitment to domestic clients. The current proposals for legal aid will exclude them for the very courts that the government is so willing to promote internationally.”
