India may open the door to foreign practices under licensing agreement

LIBERALISATION: Society delegation claims sub-continent warming to idea of joint ventures

India could soon open up to foreign law firms along the south-east Asian model of issuing licences or offering joint ventures with local firms - like China, Hong Kong or Singapore - it has emerged.Despite the Indian Bar Council's long-standing and vigorous opposition to foreign lawyers practising in the country, a Law Society delegation to the sub-continent has returned with new hope (see [2001] Gazette, 21 June, 6).The delegation's head, Robin Healey, a former partner at City firm Ince & Co and the Law Society council member for international practice, said: 'There has been a sea-change in opinion in the past 18 months...

Now a great many Indian practitioners are beginning to see that the entry of foreign legal practitioners could be an opportunity, not a threat to them.'He cited the development of a new Society of Indian Law Firms - which met in Bombay last week - as a 'manifestation of the new thinking over non-contentious practice by law firms'.He said this was the beginning of a drive by Indian firms to compete internationally, and to compete at home with tied accountancy firms.Mr Healey said that in due course India might permit a number of foreign law firms to practise along the lines of, say, Hong Kong or Singapore, in joint ventures with local firms, or subject to licences.However, he warned that there is still vociferous opposition to reform, adding: 'The Chinese practice of issuing only a small number of foreign licences could also be employed in India.'Jeremy Fleming