Division 1In this Act:Australia includes the external Territories.
Australian law means law of the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory.
commercial legal presence means an interest in a law firm practising foreign law.
domestic lawyer means a person (including a foreign lawyer) who is a barrister or solicitor.
domestic registration authority means the Bar Council or the Law Society Council.
foreign law means law of a place outside Australia.
foreign lawyer means a person who is duly registered to practise law in a place outside Australia by a foreign registration authority.
foreign registration authority means the person or authority in a place outside Australia having the function conferred by law of registering persons to practise law in that place.
home registration authority of a foreign lawyer means a foreign registration authority stated in the lawyer’s application for registration under section 48ZI.
law firm means:
(a) a person practising as a lawyer on the person’s own account, or(b) a partnership of two or more persons practising as lawyers, or(c) an incorporated legal practice or multidisciplinary partnership that is permitted by a law of the State.locally registered foreign lawyer means a person who is registered as a foreign lawyer under this Part.
practise foreign law means doing work, or transacting business, in the State concerning foreign law, being work or business of a kind that, if it concerned the law of the State, would ordinarily be done or transacted by a domestic lawyer.
registered:
(a) when used in connection with a place outside Australia, means having all necessary licences, approvals, admissions, certifications or other forms of authorisation (including practising certificates) required by or under legislation for the carrying on of the practice of law in that place, or(b) when used in connection with the exercise of a function by a domestic registration authority in relation to a domestic lawyer, means the issue of a practising certificate.
The principal purpose of this Part is to encourage and facilitate the internationalisation of legal services and the legal services sector by providing a framework for the regulation of the practice of foreign law in the State by foreign-registered lawyers as a recognised aspect of legal practice in the State.
(1) This Part applies to any individual (other than a domestic lawyer) who practises foreign law in the State.(2) Nothing in this Part requires a domestic lawyer (including a foreign lawyer who is also a domestic lawyer) to be registered as a foreign lawyer under this Part in order to practise foreign law in the State.