ABSTRACT
Scholarship on the legal profession in Asia usually focuses on how lawyers in Asia ‘measure up’ to global standards. A common assumption is that factors associated with globalisation, increasing economic exchange and technological improvements bring a convergence toward organisational structures and practices. The local legal profession changes in order to compete better in global markets, which require globally adept lawyers. This chapter will look at factors of convergence, but the structure of the legal profession in any given context is a product of a mix of local and global influences. We can, however, point towards practices and reforms that are consistent with gradual convergence.
