Free Movement of Lawyers Within the EU Internal Market: Achievements and Remaining Challenges

Abstract

The outstanding development of the European Union has entailed profound transformations in the legal professions over the last four decades. These developments have changed the practice of lawyers, which has become more internationalized and business- oriented in order to meet the demand for international legal services. On the other hand, the legal profession has remained generally heavily regulated with a local focus, which leads to significant differences between Member States. Such situation has resulted in obstacles to free movement of lawyers within the EU internal market. In this context, the rules of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and the European institutions play a major role in the promotion of the free movement of lawyers within the EU internal market. The objective of this paper is to analyze the achievements of the liberalization process, which have taken place within the EU internal market and examine the remaining challenges, which may lead to some changes in the current regulatory framework.