As one of the largest cities on the planet and a central hub for trade in Southeast Asia, Bangkok is the spoke in the proverbial wheel for anyone seeking to do business in the Far East. When living, working, or investing in Thailand it may become necessary to retain legal advice. For Thai legal matters, it is always advisable to retain a Thai attorney. However, in transactions involving multiple jurisdictions, it may be necessary to hire an attorney licensed in a jurisdiction other than Thailand. A major obstacle often faced when searching for a foreign attorney: separating the, “wheat from the chaff,” because Thailand has no mechanism for registering and regulating foreign lawyers.
In Asian jurisdictions such as Singapore and Hong Kong (to name just two) the authorities have promulgated legislation for registering and monitoring the activities of practicing foreign lawyers. The upshot of this system is a foreign legal community that is transparent and above board. In Thailand, the activities of foreign lawyers and “consultants,” are left in a somewhat gray area. Thailand, as a member of the World Trade Organization, has signaled its intent to open its market to international trade and services. However, Thailand has yet to implement many of the provisions required by the WTO most notably, for the purposes of this article, the provisions dealing with foreign attorney registration.
Under the foreign business act of 1999, foreigners are barred from practicing law, but a foreigner can conceivably obtain a foreign business license in order to operate a legal service business under list three in the appendix to the foreign business act. Thailand legislation seems to have distinguished between the practice of law and the opaque term, “legal service business.” The distinction between these two terms seems to turn upon whether a firm practices litigation.
Due to Thailand’s inaction with regard to her WTO obligations, the question as to foreign lawyers practicing foreign law in Thailand is precarious. The result of this slightly odd legal situation is that those people (both Thai and foreign) seeking foreign legal advice are at risk of using the services of someone who has no formal legal training. By putting a mechanism in place to regulate foreign lawyers other governments have ensured that those practicing foreign law are qualified to do so in their jurisdiction of licensure. By not having such legislation in place, laypeople could be easily duped by someone who has no business dispensing legal advice.
Please note: Nothing in this article should be utilized as a substitute for legal advice from a duly licensed attorney in your jurisdiction. No attorney/client relationship should be inferred to have been created by reading this article.
