Delivering legal advice across multiple jurisdictions is increasingly challenging due to the substantial number of divergent regulations applicable to the legal profession across the African continent and the globe in general. As clients become more global and require more integrated, cross-border service, some challenges and tensions develop because of the profession’s framework of qualification and governance organised by jurisdiction. National bar associations, law societies and the IBA should focus on whether and how ethical, training and practice standards need to be adapted to the current practice of law, both within their jurisdictions in Africa and globally. There is the need to for jurisdictions to cooperate more closely to ensure that ethical, training and practice standards are reasonable, harmonised or mutually recognised for the purposes of regulation and enforcement.

•    What is the current state of cross-border legal practice in Africa and is it ideal in light of the internationalisation of legal practice across Africa and the world?
•    With regional integration becoming a reality on the continent, how can these existing regulatory barriers be removed or harmonised to facilitate cross-border legal practice in the region?
•    Are there any existing models of regulation that facilitate cross-border legal practice in other regions of the world.
•    What is the way forward for the regulation and/or facilitation of cross-border legal practice in Africa and the world in the light of regional integration and the internationalisation of legal practice?