India liberalises legal market with new foreign rules

A longrunning campaign for foreign lawyers and legal firms to be allowed to provide legal advice in India has finally borne fruit, with the Bar Council of India (“BCI”) announcing the liberalisation of the Indian legal market.

Foreign lawyers and law firms will now be allowed to practise foreign law in India, and set up offices there, if Indian lawyers are allowed equivalent rights in the foreign jurisdiction. They will need to register with the BCI. They all also be allowed to enter into partnerships with other foreign lawyers and law firms registered with the BCI. They will not be given rights to appear before Indian courts and tribunals.

The fast growing Indian economy has now overtaken the UK’s in size to become the fifth largest in the world, and some forecasts predict it will be the third largest by 2030. Leading UK law firms have been attempting to gain rights to operate within India for decades, but to date have been restricted to providing foreign legal advice to clients there on a “fly in, fly out” basis.

The move brings India closer to Singapore as respects the rights allowed to foreign lawyers.