liberalisation
The writ petition against 31 foreign law firms in Chennai has been adjourned to 19 April following the Bar Council of India (BCI) having failed to hold a meeting to discuss the legal position of foreign lawyers.
Law minister Veerappa Moily admitted that the entry of foreign firms could be good for business if local lawyers were allowed to build capacity before an “onslaught from the rest of the world” and that he had seen 80 national law school graduates prosper at London firms, in a revealing interview with the Mint paper today, adding that the door was still open to transfer the Chennai writ petition against foreign firms to the Supreme Court.
Arguing that legal education should be taken away from the BCI, he denied that the Bar Council of India (BCI) should feel threatened by the Legal Practitioner’s Bill.
In a letter to BCI chairman Gopal Subramanium, American Bar Association (ABA) president N Zack urged the Bar Council of India (BCI) to maintain “status quo” when discussing the entry of foreign law firms tomorrow (29 January).
Senior advocate and former additional solicitor general Abhishek Manu Singhvi yesterday argued for an early disposal of the Chennai writ petition against foreign law firms while the matter was once again adjourned after the Bar Council of India (BCI) counsel promised comprehensive guidelines regulating the activities of foreign law firms would be discussed at a meeting before the month-end.
Clifford Chance India head Chris Wyman has retired from the law after spending 16 months on secondment at the offices of Indian best friend AZB & Partners. Clifford Chance Singapore office head Geraint Hughes will succeed Wyman as India practice head.
The Chennai writ petition against 31 foreign law firms was taken up today after having last been heard on 5 October but has again been adjourned to 25 January 2011 following the Central Government’s plea to seek broader consultation with foreign firms and an impending all India bar councils’ meeting.
The proposed Legal Services Board has elicited mixed reactions from legal practitioners on CNBC-TV18’s The Firm last week, with Rajiv Luthra noting that state bar councils do need tighter regulation in some manner, Lalit Bhasin and Karan Bhosale arguing that the existing regulators can already do the job and MP Bharucha predicting that it could facilitate the entry of foreign law firms.
Responding in writing to a question in the Indian parliament law minister Veerappa Moily stated that there were no proposals to allow foreign firms into India.
Discussions to allow foreign law firms to operate in India were dropped during US President Barack Obama’s state visit to India, said two US law firm partners who were part of the delegation.
The Law Ministry has issued two statements on behalf of the Bar Council of India (BCI) that the regulatory body “has decided not to permit foreign lawyers into India” but was subject to “rational scrutiny”, despite the BCI not having discussed the issue at the BCI’s three previous meets.
The Solicitors Regulations Authority (SRA) has not yet received the completed survey for India to be included in the England & Wales Qualified Lawyers Transfer Scheme (QLTS) but the Bar Council of India (BCI) assured it was an “urgent matter” and would be completed “as soon as possible”.
Who are the players in the saga around legal market liberalisation? And do those in favour actually care enough to make a difference? Legally India talks to the opposing factions and finds out why no progress has been made - and if any is around the corner.
Indian qualified lawyers will currently not be able to apply to practise law in England and Wales under the new Qualified Lawyers Transfer Scheme (QLTS) since yesterday (1 September), due to an oversight by the Bar Council of India (BCI), said the countries’ Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).
The law ministry is considering setting up a law firm regulator with a code of conduct to govern law firms in order to end the “free environment without any regulations”, reported the Hindustan Times.
A thinktank said that any plans for economic reforms may have lost momentum as the Congress-led government is preparing for the state elections, lacks consensus and would struggle forcing through legislation, reported the Economic Times. Legal market liberalisation was not expressly mentioned in the article.
Full article by the Economic Times. Thanks to a commenter for sending us the link.
he Bar Council of India's (BCI) ambitious weekend meeting decided to introduce draft lawyers' ethics guidelines in two days and how to begin decreasing the number of law colleges in India. But due to time constraints the body had to postpone its decision on the entry of foreign law firms in respect of the Chennai writ petition, as well as Trilegal's queries about converting to a limited liability partnership (LLP).
Senior advocate and parliamentarian Abhishek Manu Singhvi appeared for the Dua Associates-led group of US firms in the Chennai writ petition against 31 foreign law firms today, asking the court to adjourn until after the Bar Council of India (BCI) would take a decisive stance this weekend.
The government appears to have scrapped plans to move the Chennai writ petition against 31 foreign law firms to the Supreme Court, as law firms Dua Associates and Kachwaha & Partners alongside a raft of senior counsel appeared for nine US firms, Slaughter and May, the LPO Integreon, and two Australian firms.
The petitioner's plea for an injunction against the foreign firms was stayed for two weeks until the government and foreign firms could formulate responses.
Clifford Chance expects to have an office in India by late 2012 said the firm's senior partner Stuart Popham, vowing to keep pushing the liberalisation agenda in India despite a lack of "overnight" results during his visit as part of the UK prime minister's delegation.
Clifford Chance senior partner Stuart Popham is the law firm representative on British prime minister David Cameron's India delegation this week, representing the UK legal and financial professional services community as head of a new trade body.