Malaysia’s Azmi & Associates has hired Pierre Brochet as a registered foreign qualified lawyer after receiving the Bar Council’s first-ever licence to do so.

Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) is set to open an office in Kuala Lumpur after received its Qualified Foreign Law Firm (QFLF) licence from the Bar Council Malaysia.

Trowers & Hamlins has become the first foreign law firm to be granted a Qualified Foreign Law Firm (QFLF) licence in Malaysia. The licence is effective from Apr. 4.

The liberalisation of Malaysia’s legal sector, more than a decade in the making, has finally begun moving ahead in a concrete manner with the amendments to the Legal Profession Act 1976 and the Legal Profession Rules 2014 coming into force on June 3. Ranajit Dam assesses how this could impact the legal industry in Southeast Asia’s third-largest economy, and how local firms can prepare for the entry of foreign outfits.