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.

Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy added former Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft partner and NLSIU Bangalore 2004 alumnus Sinjini Saha in London, as reported by Legal Business.

We did a brief report in the Law Society Gazette today on the Supreme Court liberalisation hearings… Law Society Gazette reported: End game nears for India liberalisation case | News | Law Society Gazette Nearly six years after the Madras high court writ petition against 31 international law firms w...

Indian lawyers practising abroad would end up bearing the brunt of the Bar Council of India (BCI) potential regulation of foreign law firms under the current regulatory regime, argued London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) counsel Dushyant Dave before the Supreme Court yesterday.

Indian lawyers practising abroad would end up bearing the brunt of the Bar Council of India (BCI) potential regulation of foreign law firms under the current regulatory regime, argued London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) counsel Dushyant Dave before the Supreme Court yesterday.

The Supreme Court refused to entertain adjournment pleas by senior advocates in today’s hearing of the Bar Council of India (BCI) writ against the entry of foreign law firms into India, reported Bar & Bench.

On Saturday, 11 November, the Indian National Bar Association (INBA) had held the “Bar Leadership Summit on Reforms in the Indian Legal Sector” conference to discuss the future and liberalisation of the legal profession, and to bring together leaders of the bar and the government.

UK firm Penningtons Manches LLP India group co-head Ajit Mishra, has joined London-based Rosenblatt Solicitors as the head of its India group.

Luthra & Luthra senior partner Mohit Saraf, who was one of the Indian law firm promoters requesting the commerce ministry in liberalisation negotiations to prevent foreign firms from hiring Indian lawyers, said in an interview with Asia Legal Business that if foreign firms open in India, they would only be with a “very small office”.

US-international firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton has promoted three to partner this year, including London-based M&A lawyer Nallini Puri, reported The Lawyer and others.

In an online straw poll of foreign law firm India group partners we conducted, 15 out of 16 (94%) responded that opening an office in a special economic zone (SEZ) in India “would not be interesting for us under any circumstances”, casting doubt over the government’s current seemingly preferred approach to liberalise the Indian legal market by starting with SEZs.

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.

At a smaller meeting called by the commerce ministry on 1 September with legal industry stakeholders, including Society of Indian Law Firms (Silf), the Indian National Bar Association (INBA) and Bar Association of India (BAOI), the three Silf members present reiterated their position that foreign law firms, if they were to enter India, shouldn’t be allowed to hire Indian lawyers.

Link Legal India Law Services has hired the former senior partner and chairman of UK-headquartered firm Pinsent Masons, Martin Harman, as its “chair - international business”, according to a press release from the firm.

The law and commerce ministries, including law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, met with a number of stakeholders of the Indian legal profession today, paving the way for the first stage of allowing foreign law firms to set up shop in India.

The Bar Council of India (BCI) is set to meet the government tomorrow to discuss the new draft rules that will enable the entry of foreign law firms into India, reported The Lawyer (full article requires free registration) adding that the Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF) has already met with its members as a precursor to what SILF called the “inevitable and imminent” opening up of the legal services sector.

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.

Chief Justice of India (CJI) JS Khehar, as probably the first sitting CJI having been reported to do so, as far as we are aware, said at a function on Saturday (8 July) that legal market liberalisation should take place.

Kirtee Kapoor, the head of Davis Polk’s India group and one of the first of a new generation of Indian-trained lawyers to make partner at top international firms, has passed away after having been hit by a train earlier yesterday morning in California.

Ramya S Tiller (formerly Ramya Seetharaman when at NLSIU Bangalore until 2002), has been promoted to US international firm _Debevoise & Plimpton_’s partnership in New York alongside three other partners in New York, and three in global offices.