Bar Council and Law Ministry should play proactive role

Dear Sir,

I read your report on foreign law firms doing India-related work (Jewels in the crown, IBLJ volume 2, issue 1) with great interest.

Unsurprisingly the number of international law firms that are doing India-related work has increased significantly over the last few years. As India opens up her markets to the world inviting global players to invest in India and as Indian corporates look outside of India with international growth aspirations, the legal market for India-related work will undoubtedly continue to grow.

So the question of the hour (or more accurately over the last few years and the next few months) is whether the Indian legal market should be opened to foreign law firms. I think that most interested parties, including those seen as opposing the outright opening up of the Indian legal market, would agree that the legal market in India should be liberalized just as most sectors of the Indian economy have been over the past few years (and still continue to be). Where these interest groups differ is in their approach towards achieving this. So, the question really is not if, but rather, when and in what manner the Indian legal market should be opened up.