Union Law Secretary Suresh Chandra has called for a meeting to take place on 29^th September in New Delhi that will formally discuss draft rules concerning the entry of international lawyers and firms into the Indian legal market. The draft guidelines, prepared jointly by firms Hammurabi & Solomon and Medhaadvisors together with the Indian National Bar Association (INBA), could see foreign law firms entering India before the end of this year.

Staggered approach

The liberalisation roadmap up for discussion recommends that Bar Council of India (BCI) guidelines on the issue of foreign law firms should be implemented across the board by the fourth quarter of 2016, allowing foreign lawyers to enter the market to practice non-Indian law and international arbitration. A second liberalisation phase would then reform the country’s Advocates Act 1961 and Limited Liability Partnership Act 2008 in order to remove restrictions on lawyers’ advertising and partnerships and to rewire legal education in India. The third and final phase, a ‘complete liberalisation’ under which foreign firms would be able to form joint ventures with local firms, should take place by the end of 2019.

Key meeting

Present at the meeting in New Delhi will be representatives from India’s Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Commerce and Industry, as well as a number of chambers of commerce including the Federation of India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM). Also present will be the Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF), which has long critiqued plans to open up India’s domestic legal market due to fears that local outfits lack the financial clout to meaningfully compete with global heavyweight firms.

Sources: Asian Legal Business; Legally India