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Registered Foreign Lawyers Order 2009

I thank the noble Lord, Lord Tunnicliffe, for introducing the first two orders before us this afternoon. When these were debated in another place, my honourable friend Mr Bellingham made it quite clear that we had broadly supported the general thrust of the Legal Services Bill. I am grateful that I was not that actively involved in that legislation as it passed through the House, but no doubt the noble Lord saw something of it. As I say, we broadly supported it. It is important that we continue to ensure that the United Kingdom, particularly London, remains a very important centre for world-class legal services, which it has been in the past and will be in the future. We hope that these orders will make it easier to continue to attract legal practitioners, and those who make use of legal services, to London. I want to pick up on a couple of points raised in the noble Lord’s comments and in the comments of my honourable friend in another place concerning the whole question of reciprocity. Am I right in thinking that, as far as the EU is concerned, we will now have total reciprocity between lawyers in the United Kingdom and lawyers in all the other 26 EU countries, or are there differences between us as to where there will not be reciprocity? Can the noble Lord expand a little on what his honourable friend Bridget Prentice said in another place about reciprocity with other parts of the world? She referred to the negotiations which she has been involved in with the Indian Government and, more importantly, with the Bar Association of India and various regional Indian Bar Associations. However, other parts of the world are equally important. I would be grateful if the Minister could expand on the degree of reciprocity for lawyers working in one country or the other and what the Government are doing to assist that.