limited liability partnerships (LLP)
Exclusive: Nishith Desai Associates (NDA) has appointed Matthew Nimetz – US diplomat and former chair of US law firm Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison – to its internal board of trusted advisors (BOTA) that meets up to three times yearly to decide on firm strategy.
Mint exclusive: The Bar Council of Delhi chairman Rakesh Tiku sent a letter to law firms such as Khaitan & Co in Delhi, which have converted into a limited liability partnerships (LLPs), warning them that this could be professional misconduct.
Delhi bar council member and Luthra & Luthra partner Vijay Sondhi responded with a letter of his own, slamming Tiku’s warning as illegal, and one Delhi law firm mothballed its LLP firm to avoid the controversy.
The department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) has invited public discussions on whether foreign direct investments should be allowed into entities and professional services firms, including law firms, incorporated as limited liability partnerships (LLPs).
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).
For now they are only skirmishes but these are also early hints of future salary wars brewing.
Trilegal is awaiting a response from the Bar Council of India (BCI) on whether the firm is allowed to convert to a limited liability partnership (LLP) under the Advocates Act, as start-up Vidhii Partners vowed to convert to LLP in two months and Luthra & Luthra, Nishith Desai Associates, IndusLaw and at least eight other firms have reserved respective LLP names.
Khaitan & Co and Trilegal have taken the first formal steps towards becoming limited liability partnerships (LLP) by registering their LLP names.
Will limited liability partnerships (LLPs) actually work, asks Indian Corporate Law Blog, notwithstanding the recent tax changes.
Lead blawger V Umakanth uncovered an interesting academic paper analysising what the Limited Liability Partnership Act could actually mean in practice for lawyers.
One possible conclusion is that, hindered by the Indian Companies Act 1956, it in fact won't do anything to alleviate one of the main reasons for law firms to turn LLP in the first place: breaking through the technical 20 partner limit.
A commenter disagrees with the analysis and writes that the Indian Companies Act's section 11 provides "a carve out for associations 'formed in pursuance of some other Indian law'."
The "some other Indian law" in this case would presumably be the LLP Act, but it remains to be seen how lawyers will interpret (embrace?) the law.
Legally India has currently not had any luck accessing the original article directly (linked to from Indian Corporate Law), but will be sure to read it as soon as it is back on-line.