News

A South Korean citizen who graduated from JGLS Sonepat last year is facing a dead end at the Bar Council of India (BCI), on her application to take the All India Bar Exam (AIBE). She took admission to JGLS relying on the reciprocity clause in the Advocates Act 1961.

The Indian legal services industry has never quite seen the turmoil that it has experienced in 2016. As generations shift, institutions mature and old alliances and allegiances crumble, the question is being asked: Could it be the end of days or a new beginning?

Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access (IDIA) grows up, reports the Times, about the organisation that now has 500 volunteers in 18 cities, which has trained 200 students and helped 83 gain admittance to law schools:

"The Medical Council of India, often in the news for controversial approvals and corruption, is set to be replaced by a medical education commission that will have three independent wings to oversee curriculum, accreditation of colleges and medical ethics," reported the Times of India, if the government's Niti Aayog panel's guidelines are implemented.

Clove Legal advised Indian equipment rental company Rent Alpha on investment in it by Hong Kong based investor Bravia Capital which was advised by Khaitan & Co.

On 1 June, Bar Council of India (BCI) chairman Manan Kumar Mishra sent Legally India reporter Prachi Shrivastava an email making a number of allegations against her, and Legally India editor Kian Ganz, after Prachi had asked Mishra for a comment on why the BCI had forced all law schools to buy products from the All India Reporter (AIR).

GLC Ernakuklam’s five year LLB program is under threat of de-recognition by the Bar Council of India (BCI), following the BCI’s Right to Information (RTI) revelation that the University Grants Commission (UGC) doesn’t recognise the degree, reported the New Indian Express.

The Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration (MCIA) is nearly up and running, having published its rules and fees on its website, and now having a full-time registrar after hiring former Trilegal senior associate Neeti Sachdeva, who has previously also worked with Economic Laws Practice (ELP), the LCIA and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in Paris.

The Guardian has a good explainer on how exactly a UK exit from the European Union (EU) could look:

GNLU Gandhinagar director Bimal Patel emailed all faculty members today with a story of a relative walking 4km, vowing to install a statue of Lord Ganesha in his house, in order to support Patel against “the defamatory news about GNLU in Jaymin Brahmbhatt case”.

The Supreme Court next Wednesday will hear a petition seeking a ban on WhatsApp on the ground that the messaging platform's end-to-end encryption gives terrorists a means of communication that is impossible to intercept.

IndusLaw and Gibson Dunn advised Amplus Energy Solutions and I-Squared Capital on their acquisition of various SunEdison Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) developing and operating around 7 MW rooftop solar power assets in India. SunEdison was advised in house.

Veritas Legal, the firm started by ex-AZB & Partners senior partner Abhijit Joshi in 2014, has made its first two internal promotions, according to a press release from the firm.

Justice AM Khanwilkar of the Supreme Court Vacation Bench on Monday (20 June) was pleasantly surprised when senior counsel, Raju Ramachandran, gave certain options to the bench, if it were to reject his prayer for bail for an accused who had been denied bail by the Orissa high court.

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has still not complied with its statutory duty under the Right to Information (RTI) Act 2005, more than six weeks after the Central Information Commission (CIC) threatened to impose maximum penalty on BCI chairman Manan Kumar Mishra, if the BCI continues in its non-compliance of the law.

"Professor BP Mahesh Guru, who teaches at the Mysore University, was arrested on 17 June when he appeared before a Mysore court in connection with a case registered against him for allegedly insulting the Hindu god at a conference in January 2015," reported the Hindustan Times.