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Bombay High Court rules that foreign law firms cannot practice law in India

• J. M.
  Dec 17 2009, 07:33 AM
  Bad news for foreign law firms in India: Any practice in India is illegal:
  
  https://www.lawyrs.net/groups/thread/476/bombay-high-court-r...
  https://www.lawyrs.net/news/show/2697/bombay-high-court-any-...
  
  
• Sadanand Naik
  Dec 19 2009, 05:03 AM
  The judgment represents the Indian Law as it stands today. India needs to adopt many changes to present legislations on the global perspective. Even the Advocate Act bars the practice of lawyers of one state in the other state unless he gets transfer his name from one state to other state. Where as in USA, a lawyer may qualify to practice in many states by passing the Bar exams and enroll before such states. In many countries the Law allows the foreign law firms to recruit Local Lawyers to practice in that country. India also can consider allowing foreign law firms on reciprocal basis where the Indian Lawyers are allowed to practice in such country after getting through in requisite examinations. UK allows Indian lawyers to practice as solicitors in England & Wales by writing requisite QLTT (Qualified Lawyers Transfer Test). States like California and New York allows Indian Lawyers to practice in such state by passing in Bar Exams and such other qualifications. American Bar Association and other Bar Associations in the United States have opined there is no unethical practice involving American Lawyers to outsource legal processes to India. Since the matter being so, what would come to the American and British mind is since the foreign lawyers are not allowed to practice any kind of practice and not allowed to set up their office in India why they need to outsource the legal work to countries like India. This would really slowdown the growth of LPO's in India.
  
  
• Prashant Bezboruah
  Dec 19 2009, 06:28 AM
  Hi Sadanand
  
  My response to your post is as follows:
  
  1. At the outset I'm in agreement with you that the market for the foreign law firms should be opened up with suitable rules and regulations just like the SRA in UK has. It would benefit the lawyers at the junior/ senior associate level though the owners of the law firms would suffer.
  
  2. There must be a qualifying exam for the foreign lawyers to practice law in India similar to the QLTT as you have said above. Hopefully this will happen as the Mumbai High Court has asked the legislature to look into the issues. I haven't gone into detail regarding the reciprocity argument advanced by the Indian lawyers but I feel that if UK and US do not have a level playing field as of now, then a level playing field is required from them before the market opens up for them in India. I'll post again regarding the reciprocity issue once I have studied it properly.
  
  3. Frankly speaking, the QLTT is quite an eyewash in my opinion. It's very expensive, costing almost 1000 to 1200 GBP, which most young Indian lawyers would not be able to afford. Secondly the rules for the QLTT have now been changed and one has to show 2 years of experience out of which 1 year has to be UK law experience. I am eligible to take the QLTT exam as I have obtained the Certificate of Eligibility to take the exam. However I don't see much point in taking the exam at the moment since it really doesn't help me in India. How many Indian lawyers would be able to show one year of UK law experience? Not many in my view especially since most of the foreign law firms do not hire Indian lawyers except from the top law schools.
  
  4. The Mumbai High Court judgment has many grey areas and has further muddied the waters as far as the foreign law firms are concerned. It could have been clearer on lots of aspects and I think a clarification on certain issues should be sought from the Mumbai High Court by the firms involved in the litigation.
  
  5. The LPO industry will not suffer much in my view because outsourcing for the UK and US law firms is in their own interest. The low cost model of the LPO definitely helps the foreign law firms. In addition even their clients' have started asking for alternative billing methods, lowering the cost of legal services etc. so it is in their own interest to outsource. The foreign law firms in any case want entry into India because it is going to be extremely lucrative for them. If UK and US adopt practices that restrict the entry of Indian lawyers or affect the Indian LPO market, then it's going to move back the process of entry of the foreign law firms into India by many years, which is not in their own interest.
  
  I came across a good article on the net sometime back and it highlights a lot of the issues involved in the entry of foreign law firms into India. It is worth reading. The article is available here: http://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l158-Foreign-Law-Fi...
  
  More later after I've gone into detail on the issues involved.
  
  Regards
  Prashant

  [Edited Dec 19 2009]

  
  

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