As reported recently in this blog, Indian lawyers anticipate a liberalization of restrictions on foreign lawyers and law firms in the near future; although the concept is not without opposition from some members of the profession. Walker Clark clients elsewhere also have had to respond to the effects that the entry of foreign lawyers and law firms have in markets that previously were largely insulated, either by local market conditions or by regulatory design, from foreign competition. 

Our experiences advising national and local firms in these markets suggest five basic questions that lawyer and law firms should ask as they start planning to meet these new competitive challenges.