Can We Hire Australian Law Interns and Lawyers?

[Simran]

Hello,

I am a partner in a law firm in India. We get a lot of litigation in which clients are citizens of Australia but have matrimonial disputes in India. Such cases are on steady rise in Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana region in India. Our law firm wants to get Australian talent - both lawyers and interns - to join our law firm.

According to our law, Australian lawyers can not practice here so we want them to advise us about Australian Family law.

My question is - Can we hire Australian law interns and lawyers, only for their legal opinion, according to Australian Bar Rules and Regulations?

Thanks

 

[Lance]

I take it your intent is to engage the Australian Lawyer to undertake a review of documentation and provide legal opinion against Australian law. The real issue I can see is that there is no lawyer / client relationship and therefore privilege because they are operating as a third party.

Your relationship with the lawyer would be more around engaging a service from the lawyer than that of a employer / employee. The Australian lawyer would also need to establish that there is no conflict or breach of employment with their employer prior to accepting any work outside of their employment.

In saying that I'm not sure you just want an expert legal opinion, you probably want an Australian Lawyer as a part of your legal team. This may be a question best put to an Australian lawyer when you provide them with an employment contract to put the question into context.

 

[Iamthelaw]

I take it your intent is to engage the Australian Lawyer to undertake a review of documentation and provide legal opinion against Australian law. The real issue I can see is that there is no lawyer / client relationship and therefore privilege because they are operating as a third party.

Your relationship with the lawyer would be more around engaging a service from the lawyer than that of a employer / employee. The Australian lawyer would also need to establish that there is no conflict or breach of employment with their employer prior to accepting any work outside of their employment.

In saying that I'm not sure you just want an expert legal opinion, you probably want an Australian Lawyer as a part of your legal team. This may be a question best put to an Australian lawyer when you provide them with an employment contract to put the question into context.

The issue isn't one of solicitor/client and privilege - I'm just not seeing how either are really relevant in the current context - Really this would be a issue of admission to practise.

To answer the original question, ideally more information would be required as to how you are intending to operate this. However, just as it is in Australia, to practise Law in other countries, a lawyer must satisfy the academic and accreditation criteria in the particular jurisdiction (ie, India). 'Practise' includes advice.