you're making little sense here. your comparisons only have one thing in common, having to pay. beyond that they're just comparing apples to oranges.

it's like saying that since people don't have to pay for healthcare in england they shouldn't be expected to pay for beer either. both involve paying for stuff... and it's not fair to have to pay for one set of stuff and not another set of stuff.

Was this requirement (licence to practise) something recent, or has it always been this way?

I understand these are the relevant articles of the 1995 Bar Association rules that address the registration requirements for foreign lawyers:

Article 4:
Apart from those lawyers who are members of the Bar Association, no one may perform this profession or provide legal consultation or prepare legal documents for compensation, except when such legal consultation or preparation of documents is an ancillary job to their profession or is a function permitted by law.
Article 5:
Foreign lawyers whose names have been registered by the Bar of a foreign country or who have been recognized and authorized by the countries of their origin to practice the legal profession have the right to practice the profession with a Khmer lawyer and accompany/assist Khmer lawyers before the courts or other institutions of the Kingdom of Cambodia. Foreign lawyers may not represent (stand in for) clients.
Article 6:
Foreign lawyers may only practice their profession in the territory of the Kingdom of Cambodia with authorization from the Khmer Bar Council; this authorization will depend on the sufficiency of qualifications of the foreign lawyer and will only be granted when the country of origin of the foreign lawyer provides this same possibility to Cambodian lawyers. This authorization may be withdrawn if there is malpractice during the practice of the legal profession in the territory of the Kingdom of Cambodia.
A Decision by the Bar Council not to authorize practice of the legal profession or to remove authorization shall be communicated within 15 days to the General Prosecutor of the Appeal Court and to the concerned person. Appeal may be made against this Decision within a period of 2 months from the date this information is received.

WOW.

Pretty black and white. I wish the work permit law was so clearly defined, LOL.

Thank you, simon.

Yeah it would appear as though all foreign lawyers should be registered in some form with the Bar Association if they want to practice law in Cambodia including providing legal consultation or preparing legal documents for a fee. The current situation of foreign owned firms holding themselves out to be merely advisory firms who then pay a registered Khmer Lawyer/firm to sign legal opinions etc that they draft does seem to make a mockery of this. Singapore seems to have a good system whereby foreign lawyers also have to register (various classes of registration) and pay annual fees and have restrictions as to what they can do which are quite clearly outlined - this could be a good revenue earner for the Bar Association here but they appear to enjoy postering and making a lot of noise rather then providing guidance. The difference between a developed system such as Singapore that has a established registration process based on meritocracy, transparency and certainty is in start contrast to Cambodia where it has already been established that even for local lawyers wishing to be admitted to the Bar large facilitation payments need to be made. In addition the fact that the Bar President is obviously being lobbied by local member firms who simply cannot compete with foreign "advisory firms" and are losing money as a consequence does not bode well for any brave (or naive?) foreign lawyer looking to put their trust in the registration process (even if they meet the criteria).