Bilateral Talks: country embraces globalisation with liberalisation of legal services


The long-awaited liberalisation of the legal services market in India edged closer to reality this month after the Indian government announced plans to negotiate bilateral agreements with the UK, the US and France.



The development came as UK members of the Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) - set up two years ago to boost trade and investment between the UK and India - returned from a positive trip to the south Asian country last week, during which they held talks with Indian law societies and bar associations to discuss how the market could be opened.



The team, which included Law Society representation officials and representatives from City firms, proposed a staged process in which foreign lawyers would be able to practise English and international law through the establishment of branch offices, with the ultimate goal of employing Indian partners.



Alison Hook, head of international at the Law Society, which signed a ground-breaking co-operation agreement last week with the Society of Indian Law Firms and the Bar Association of India, said legislative changes were needed before this could happen, as currently only Indian lawyers can practise law in that jurisdiction. She said other reforms within the Indian legal profession were required before the market could be opened to enable Indian lawyers to compete equally in the market.



Ms Hook said the rule that limits partnership numbers to 20 would need to be removed, as well as the prohibition on advertising. 'It isn't that the Indian lawyers don't want foreign lawyers to practise in their country, but they want a level playing field on which that can happen and some time to take the benefit of any domestic changes before foreign lawyers come in.'



The UK delegation had seen a real mood change among the government of India, law firms and lawyers, she said. 'We found much less blanket opposition - it's taking a long time, but things are moving forward.'



Ms Hook suggested this change in attitude had been driven by political and economic confidence as India embraced increased globalisation.



However, she said there was still a large body of opinion among court lawyers in India that allowing in

foreign practitioners would harm the Indian legal profession. 'Our next step is to persuade them that they will be unaffected by the change, as the foreign lawyers interested in practising in India do not seek permission to practise in the Indian courts.'



Catherine Baksi