The long-long-running Supreme Court case hearing the Bar Council of India (BCI) appeal against the Madras high court’s AK Balaji judgment, which allowed foreign law firms to operate in India on a fly-in-fly-out basis, is listed for tomorrow as cause list number 1501.

The Supreme Court today finished hearing counsel in the Bar Council of India (BCI) petition against the practice of law by foreign lawyers in India, in a hearing that began in the morning and reconvened at 3pm to finish only by nearly 5:30pm.

The Bar Council of India (BCI) appeal against the AK Balaji judgment of the Madras high court against 31 foreign law firms has been tentatively scheduled to finally happen on 20 November 2017, with the Supreme Court registry giving the green light in a 3 October order (see below), noting that all defects in service had now been cured.

The government has moved for an early hearing in the Bar Council of India (BCI) AK Balaji appeal in the Supreme Court, reported Bar & Bench.

No “fresh permission or renewal of permission” shall be granted by the RBI to foreign law firms seeking to open a liaison office in India “till the policy is reviewed based on final disposal of the matter by the Supreme Court”, the _Reserve Bank of India (RBI) _said yesterday in a notification repor...

The Indian judiciary has been grappling with the question of whether to permit foreign lawyers to practice in India for more than two decades. After yesterday’s hearing in the Supreme Court, it doesn’t look like any end is in sight.

Can your accountant also assist you on drafting a joint venture agreement? Or is this work best left to a lawyer to check for compliance with various rules and legislation? And what happens when one company drops a nasty legal notice on the former joint venture partner? Is when things get contentious and litigious the line where only a lawyer can step in and take care of business?

Senior advocate Harish Salve is assisting the 50-lawyer strong society of Indian lawyers fighting the Bar Council of India (BCI) in the Supreme Court, for liberalisation in Indian legal services.

The Bar Council of India’s (BCI) appeal opposing entry of foreign law firms into India today inched forward in the Supreme Court, as the respondents finished filing their written submissions 32 months after the first hearing in the case.

The Indian Express reported that the Bar Council of India (BCI) had submitted its affidavit in the Supreme Court appeal against the AK Balaji case decided in the Madras high court against law foreign firms. The affidavit filed by BCI counsel Ardhendumauli K Prasad purports to rely on the 2009 Lawyer...

Twenty months after the Supreme Court (SC) had given 10 weeks to complete serving notices on foreign law firms, the Bar Council of India (BCI) appeal against foreign law firms practicing in India, remains stuck at the service stage.

Contrary to the approach taken by the Bar Council of India (BCI), foreign lawyers should be allowed to fly into India temporarily to advise clients and assist in arbitrations, decided the Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF) in its general board meeting on Saturday, while noting that chartered accountants have been flouting the rules.

Contrary to media reports, the Supreme Court has reaffirmed the Madras high court judgment on foreign law firms, expressly permitting the “fly-in-fly-out” of foreign lawyers, while reiterating the law laid down in the Bombay high court’s Lawyers Collective judgment preventing foreign lawyers from opening up offices in India.

Breaking: The Supreme Court has given 10 weeks to serve 31 foreign law firms and the respondents in the apex court appeal against the AK Balaji Madras writ petition, with the Bar Council of India (BCI) arguing that the law should prohibit foreign lawyers from even temporarily travelling to India to advise clients.

The Bar Council of India (BCI) today filed its long-awaited appeal against the Madras High Court judgment that allowed foreign lawyers limited foreign law practice in India.

The ruling in the Chennai writ petition was hailed as pragmatic for solving the nearly two-year-old deadlock foreign firms were in. But frankly it is likely to continue exposing the deficiencies of the 1961 Advocates Act in dealing with modern-day India. And it could possibly plunge a number of industries into a world of pain via the Bar Council of India (BCI).

LI-Mint exclusive: The Bar Council of India (BCI), regulator of the legal profession, has indicated it might appeal against Tuesday’s Madras high court ruling allowing foreign lawyers to visit the country to advise clients on foreign law.

The Chennai High Court has cleared foreign lawyers from flying in and out of India to advise on foreign law, as well as the operations of legal process outsourcing (LPO) outfits, although it added that foreign lawyers would not be allowed to practice domestic law unless they registered with the Bar Council of India (BCI).

The Madras High Court reserved its judgement yesterday and has begun deliberating on the fate of 31 international law firms and legal process outsourcing (LPO) outfit Integreon, and whether they face a ban of flying into India, after counsel for all sides concluded arguments.

The Bar Council of India’s (BCI) counter-affidavit filed in the AK Balaji Chennai case against 31 foreign law firms said that the BCI has decided not to relax the restrictions prohibiting foreign lawyers from practising and that the issue raised by the writ was “no longer res integra” because it had been settled in the 2009 Lawyers Collective case.

Legally India understands that the BCI’s thinking is that internal disparities at the Indian bar need to be eradicated through reform before making any decision on foreign firms.