A development has been reported by the Law Council of Australia in its statement dated 11 April 2025, welcoming the continued progress of the Australia–United Kingdom Legal Services Regulatory Dialogue, established under the Australia–UK Free Trade Agreement (A-UKFTA). In its commentary, the Law Council highlighted the importance of this Dialogue in advancing cooperation on legal services trade between the two jurisdictions and promoting transparency, regulatory alignment, and innovation in areas such as legal technology and artificial intelligence.
The Legal Services Regulatory Dialogue serves as a platform through which representatives of the legal profession and regulatory authorities in Australia and the UK meet to discuss mutual priorities in the regulation of legal services. Since its establishment in March 2024, the Dialogue has convened several plenary sessions and thematic working groups, involving over 50 participants from 20 different professional and regulatory bodies. It focuses on key issues such as admission and licensing requirements, the prevalence of legal business structures, and opportunities for regulatory cooperation on AI and legal tech.
Notably, the Dialogue has supported greater mobility of lawyers between the two countries. This includes progress such as exempting Australian lawyers with unrestricted practising certificates from the practical legal skills component of the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) in England and Wales. On the Australian side, work is underway to operationalise conditional admission under the Legal Profession Uniform Law in New South Wales, Victoria, and Western Australia.
In January 2025, the Dialogue submitted a progress report to the intergovernmental Professional Services Working Group, outlining how the legal services provisions of the A-UKFTA have been implemented, challenges encountered, and next steps. A public report on its work to date is expected to be released later this year.
Public Communiqué from UK-Australia Legal Services Regulatory Dialogue (PDF)