PROFESSOR EMERITA TERRY PUBLISHES TWO ARTICLES ABOUT INTERNATIONAL LEGAL SERVICES
September 2024 — Professor Emerita Laurel S. Terry is the author of two articles published in the Summer 2024 issue of The Bar Examiner. This magazine, which is sent to state supreme court justices, admissions officials, legal educators, and others, is published by the National Conference of Bar Examiners and “provides comprehensive, authoritative information on current issues.”
Professor Terry’s two articles are entitled “Responding to Foreign Regulator Requests for Law Firm Certificates of Good Standing: Global Regulatory Differences and Their Implications” and “Background Information for Foreign Regulators About the US System for Regulating Legal Services and Law Firms.”
These two articles were informed by Professor Terry’s work as a Special Advisor to the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on International Trade in Legal Services [ABA ITILS]. Several U.S. law firms sought the assistance of the ABA ITILS in connection with their efforts to comply with a new German law that created a registration process for foreign law firms. Because law firms, as well as individual lawyers, are licensed in many foreign countries, some German authorities had requested a “law firm certificate of good standing” before they would allow U.S. law firms to register.
Professor Terry’s first article is directed towards a U.S. audience. It recommends that U.S. law firms and regulators consider the approach used by the State Bar of Georgia (which has been delegated regulatory authority by the Georgia Supreme Court). Although the State Bar of Georgia does not issue certificates of good standing for law firms, its General Counsel prepared a letter that explained Georgia’s regulatory structure and why its law firms were not able to provide the requested certificate.
Professor Terry’s second article is directed towards a foreign audience. It explains the U.S. [federal] system of legal services regulation. This article includes a discussion of issues that often are taken for granted in the United States and thus are not explicitly stated by regulators or secondary sources, such as the fact that U.S. regulators do not require all law firms in their jurisdiction to be licensed or registered in order to provide legal services.
Professor Terry’s Bar Examiner articles were circulated at recent meetings of both the ABA ITILS and the State Bar of Georgia’s ITILS Committee and within U.S. law firms that have sought to register their offices in Germany. For additional information about Professor Terry’s work related to international trade in legal services, see this news article and the “Research Areas” section of Professor Terry’s recently-updated personal webpage.
Professor Emerita Laurel S. Terry, who held the inaugural H. Laddie Montague, Jr. Chair in Law and was Dickinson Law’s inaugural Associate Dean for Research and New Faculty Development, is a three-time Fulbright recipient who writes and speaks about the impact of globalization on the legal profession, especially with respect to regulatory issues. Her scholarship has identified emerging issues for the legal profession and urged stakeholder engagement, new initiatives, and regulatory reform. In addition to speaking at academic and professional conferences, she has been invited to speak about her scholarship to organizations that include the Conference of Chief Justices, the National Conference of Bar Examiners, the National Organization of Bar Counsel, the National Conference of Bar Presidents, the CCBE, which represents EU’s legal profession and legal regulators, the Federation of Law Societies of Canada, the International Institute of Law Association Chief Executives, the International Bar Association, and the International Conference of Legal Regulators.