liberalisation

Commerce ministry joint secretary Sudhanshu Pandey told a US-Indian delegation today that the government would seek to pass an amendment to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act this session that would allow foreign lawyers to come to India to act for their clients in arbitrations in order to boost domestic arbitrations.

Can your accountant also assist you on drafting a joint venture agreement? Or is this work best left to a lawyer to check for compliance with various rules and legislation? And what happens when one company drops a nasty legal notice on the former joint venture partner? Is when things get contentious and litigious the line where only a lawyer can step in and take care of business?

Endless jobs? Sacks of money for all? Better working conditions for everyone? Young lawyer Dhruv Balai Paul ponders the implications of the possible entry of foreign law firms to India.

The Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF) will complain to the Bar Council of Delhi in the coming week against PDS Legal, Advaita Legal and other Indian law firms that are best friends with accountancy firms, as a follow-up to its recent complaints in the council against the Big Four consultancies E&Y, KPMG, PwC and Deloitte for their alleged unauthorized practice of law.

Commerce ministry Rajeev Kher held a press conference yesterday, saying that the government had begun talks about opening up the transactional legal services sector and India-based international arbitration, having drawn in law firm lobby group Society of Indian Law Firms (Silf) and the regulator Bar Council of India (BCI).

Bar Council of India (BCI) chairman Manan Kumar Mishra has sent an unsolicited email to Legally India’s editor Kian Ganz earlier today, after having sent a legal notice claiming defamation just over one week ago.

"Why should we need to go outside the country for global arbitration? We shouldn’t think that if foreign lawyers come here, they will take away our jobs,” said prime minister Narendra Modi, for the first time publicly weighing in on the liberalisation debate, adding that fears that foreign lawyers would dominate the local profession were unfounded.

Senior advocate Harish Salve was celebrated by the Society of Indian Law Firms (Silf) at a dinner earlier this evening, for having received the Padma Bhushan.

Senior advocate Harish Salve is assisting the 50-lawyer strong society of Indian lawyers fighting the Bar Council of India (BCI) in the Supreme Court, for liberalisation in Indian legal services.

The Bar Council of India’s (BCI) appeal opposing entry of foreign law firms into India today inched forward in the Supreme Court, as the respondents finished filing their written submissions 32 months after the first hearing in the case.

Commerce secretary Rajeev Kher told Mint that a committee of secretaries may “meet as early as this month to clear the proposal on legal services, which will be subsequently placed before the cabinet for a final decision”.

Law minister https://www.legallyindia.com/Law-firms/legal-market-liberalisation-investigation-into-lobbying-and-policy told The Hindu: “Yes, Japan has written to us. We are taking the issue of opening up our legal sector on a positive note, but on the condition that it will increase the face-value of our lawyers globally and there will be a mutual exchange of lawyers, law firms.”

BCI chairman Manan Kumar Mishra told The Hindu: “The Union Law Ministry has handed us Japan’s letter which says that they are ready and eager to invite and allow Indian lawyers and Indian law firms to practice Indian laws in Japan. The BCI is studying the proposal.”

“We will be framing this rule of reciprocity after carefully examining the situation for lawyers in each country. For example, if they create a hurdle, like a test which is very difficult to crack, we will also do the same here for their lawyers looking to practice here.”

Legally India and Mint reported earlier this week that in discussions with Society of Indian Law Firms (Silf) and the Bar Council of India (BCI), the government was taking a proactive approach in liberalisation the legal market, possibly within the next two years.

Legally India investigates in Mint how special interests have succeeded at and could end up indefinitely stalling reform of legal services, despite the government's best laid intentions.

Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF) president Lalit Bhasin told the Business Standard that a plan of phased entry into India of foreign law firms should begin in 2015, subject to a number of conditions.