That legal services play a critical role in facilitating and stimulating international trade and investment will be self-evident to readers of this publication. That is why I am currently in India, a country enjoying unprecedented growth and home to an increasing number of highly ambitious and outward-facing exporters and investors. In my discussions with ministers and senior officials, the Bar Council of India and representatives of the business community, I am exploring how our respective professionals might best be able to take advantage of what is a huge opportunity for both to provide world-class services to international companies and investors.
In the UK, we have long been aware that the more cosmopolitan a society we are in professional terms, the more attractive we become as an international financial and commercial centre. That is why we welcome, without hesitation, the 200 or so foreign firms currently practising in the UK. In recent years, many other jurisdictions have also understood the advantages that pursuing a positive and open approach to this sector can bring. In this regard it is no accident that the number of solicitors practising overseas saw a nine-fold increase between 1990 and 2006. They are now based in more than 70 countries around the world.
