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Law Firm Partners are not employees of the law firm as far as my understanding goes. The Partners, the Principal/Senior/Junior Associates, etc. are basically under retainership to the corporate entity of the Firm (Normal Partnership or LLP or Pvt. Ltd. Company). They are service providers and law firms are service recipients which pay professional fees as per the retainership agreement. This fees is not a fixed salary like something an employee receives, but a professional fee, that is fixed for the services they offer. The treatment of a law firm lawyer, however, is like an employee in terms of work function and hierarchy.
Regards to the registration with BCI, there is no such registration. You can only enroll/register with State Bar Councils. The BCI is a separate body formed with members, and it does not function like the State Bar Councils do in terms of enrollment of advocates. Reference:
http://www.barcouncilofindia.org/about/about-the-bar-council-of-india/
http://www.barcouncilofindia.org/about/enrolment-of-advocates/
If you are under a retainership, you can enroll, and stay enrolled.
It's basically a question of whether you are under-employed with a fixed salary, like other employees in companies like IT, HR, Sales, etc. If you are under a retainership with a firm or practicing as a lawyer in courts (litigation), then it is not employment, but only a professional retainership. Taxes also differ if you are an employee and not a retainer.