Against the backdrop of Brexit and vaccine diplomacy the United Kingdom and India yesterday agreed to a deal to increase investments by $1.39bn and to work on a longer-term bilateral free trade deal between the countries (dubbed an “Enhanced Trade Partnership”), as widely reported.

The Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) has released a new framework for attracting legal services, including potentially foreign law firms, into the special economic zone (SEZ).

Attorney general KK Venugopal spoke at an event late last month about foreign lawyers in India, according to the Times of India:

The government said in Lok Sabha on 21 March that the “entry of foreign law firms… on basis of reciprocity is under consideration by Government”, as first reported by LiveLaw.

“I received a call from the government today,“ Kaviraj Singh, secretary general of the Indian National Bar Association (INBA), told us yesterday. Staunchly pro-liberalisation INBA and Singh have been one of the stakeholders involved in discussions with the Indian government.

As first reported by Live Law, the Supreme Court has upheld the right of foreign lawyers to fly in on a temporary basis to India to advise clients, as well as finding that foreign lawyers should be allowed to conduct international arbitrations in India.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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”.

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.

The commerce and law ministries are unequivocally in favour of opening up the legal sector to foreign lawyers as soon as possible, reveal the full minutes of the July meeting between ministries and lawyers, though the details of how this will be done remain uncertain.

Following our exclusive report of a ministry meeting with lawyer stakeholders on 28 July, at which prime minister Narendra Modi’s intention was made clear to allow foreign law firms to enter on a “top priority” basis, ET NOW has re-reported the development and interviewed two eminent senior counsel - Harish Salve and Gopal Jain - who both spoke out in favour of the prompt entry of foreign law firms.

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