Mauritius May Admit Foreign Law Firms

by Lorys Charalambous, for LawAndTax-News.com, Cyprus

24 May 2006

Mauritius' Minister of Finance, Rama Sithanen, last week told a meeting of the Association of Offshore Management Companies (AOMC) that he is in favour of allowing foreign law firms to establish offices in the country.

"We have reached a stage where we need to open up and attract more stakeholders," said the Minister. "We need to llow foreign accountants firms and law firms to come to Mauritius so as to attract new businesses."

However, Mr Sithanen emphasized that foreign law offices should not compete with domestic firms. He anticipated resistance from local firms. The AOMC also expressed itself in favour of a change, which would expand the range of services avavailable in Mauritius, and said that it would open up new employment opportunities for Mauritians.

There is considerable demand from the operators of Global Business Companies for a more internationalist legal sector. An AOMC official said that they wanted to be able to work with law firms having international networks.

The Mauritius branch of STEP (the Society of Trusts and Estate Practitioners), which has 70 members, also agrees that the market should be opened up to foreign professionals. "Opening up of the offshore services sector will bring new business," said STEP's John Harper, emphasizing that trust administors need to find that Mauritius is on a par with such jurisdictions as Bermuda, Jersey and the Cayman Islands in terms of accounting, legal and other support services.

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