The Legal Profession

Hi,

Not easy.

Firstly because in Mauritius, the legal system is based both on the British and French law.

Then one needs to pass the Bar exams before they can start practicing.

Last, the country has reached kind of a saturation point when it comes to lawyers and the Mauritius Bar Council and Bar Association is a closed organisation not particularly open to expat lawyers.

That said, foreign Commonwealth lawyers do sometimes take on specific cases in the country upon request from people or companies but not on a permanent basis.

Commercial as far as I know has no bar restrictions, however you can't litigate unless you pass the BAR Exam.  There is a course here called the Graduate Law Diploma which you could do prior to the BAR exam.  Perhaps contact the University of Mauritius (or the Open University of Mauritius) in this regard.

Hi,

I am a French qualified lawyer working in a Mauritian law firm as legal adviser.

If you are French, Canadian or UK qualified (may apply to some other national qualifications but I am not sure which ones) AND if you are a national citizen of Mauritius, you can request your registration to the Mauritian Bar if you follow a 2 months lesson on Mauritian law (for more information, see the Law Practitioners Act). Since I am not Mauritian, I could not use this possibility.

Depending on the laws of your own country, you may be able to work as a foreign lawyer here (with the agreement of the Paris Bar and the Mauritius Bar and upon certain conditions, I could open my own law firm in Mauritius dedicated to French and international law, to the exclusion of advices on Mauritian law).

Feel free to contact me for more questions.

Regards,

I am an UK qualified Solicitor with Mauritian citizenship. Can I work in an in-house legal department such as a bank without needing to take further exams?

No need for any exams if you are working in-house. This applies to most other professions, like accountant for eg. The only issue is that you cannot sign any document as a 'solicitor'.