The Times of India reports that within days of a Bombay High Court order declaring practice by foreign firms illegal. The UK’s Justice Department has “swung into action and asked the Indian law ministry to intervene and come up with a policy.”
India’s Law minister Veerappa Moily has confirmed that a request had been received from the British government. And, has subsequently informed Indian media that? “Very soon Bar Council of India and law ministry will hold discussions. Even the Bombay High Court has asked us to come up with a policy. We want to sort out the issue,”
Here’s the report in full.. will anything come of these latest developments. We doubt it if The Bar Council of India has any hand in it.
The report
However, ministry sources said, “There is very little that government can do. Till the Bar Council of India (BCI) changes its stance against foreign law firms, the ministry cannot do anything. During UPA-I, the ministry had tried its best to come out with a policy, but BCI was opposed to the move.”
The Bombay HC said that the practice of law under the Advocates Act includes all forms of practice, not just litigation practice in court but also corporate practice, advisory practice, mergers and acquisitions and other related practices. The liaison offices set up by three legal firms — Ashurst, Chadbourne & Parke and White & Case — allowed by the Reserve Bank of India have been declared illegal and permission has been quashed on a petition by Lawyers’ Collective. Even BCI had become a party in the case, which went on for 14 years.
A concrete policy might not be easy. BCI chairman SNP Sinha, who led a delegation of lawyers to Britain two years ago, says, “Our stand is clear. There should be a reciprocity between the two countries.” He points out that the British government is only willing to employ young lawyers from top Indian law schools in its law firms with a condition that they will not practice in their courts. “They want to employ our lawyers in their country for works like arbitration, negotiation and conciliation,” Sinha says.
Sinha says in India, the Limited Liability Partnership Act has resulted in foreign firms tying up with top Indian law firms. “Where is the reciprocity?” he asks.
Sinha says the lawyers’ body of USA has invited BCI for negotiations. But he adds that the BCI’s stand will not change as far as reciprocity is concerned.
Sinha says the Bombay HC has settled another contentious issue, namely what constitutes legal practice. “Foreign firms argued in the court that drafting, negotiations, M&As, conciliation and arbitration are not part of legal practice. But the court has agreed with our view and considered them part of legal practice.”
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/UK-pleads-for-foreign-law-firms-bar-council-adamant/articleshow/5392616.cms
