This article starts by discussing a number of public interest explanations for regulating the markets of legal services: information asymmetries, negative externalities and public goods. Since professional associations of lawyers meet the requirements for acting as effective lobbyists, the...

In the Gebhard judgement the European Court of Justice has formulated the requirements which must be satisfied for self-regulatory restrictions on entry (such as the protection of titles and compulsory membership of public professional bodies) to be compatible with the fundamental freedoms...