An SRA spokesperson said that the situation remained unchanged since Legally India first reported on 2 September that Indian lawyers would not be able to apply to practice law in England because India was not included in the list of jurisdictions under the new QLTS regime, due to an apparent clerical oversight at the BCI.
“We haven’t heard anything but are keen to hear from them and will deal with their response expeditiously when they respond,” said the SRA spokesperson.
Professor of law and the BCI’s associate director of legal education Rahul Singh said that the BCI remained committed to getting India included in the list. “We have taken a serious note of it and it is something which should have been done earlier.”
“We are trying to get it done as soon as possible and one of our colleagues is on it,” explained Singh, adding that the paperwork had only filtered through to the directorate of legal education several days ago. “It is an urgent matter for us as well.”
The new QLTS exam, which came into effect on 1 September to replace the Qualified Lawyers Transfer Test (QLTT) is required for Indian and other non-English lawyers to practice law in England & Wales.
Jurisdictions such as Canada and New York were also omitted from the original list, although as per the latest update of 7 September lawyers qualified under the New York state bar are now also eligible to take the QLTS.
Comments