Datar, Singhvi, Huzefa, Grover appear in foreign law firms case (Adjourned to September 14)

The debate over the entry of foreign law firms, now before the Supreme Court, is unlikely to be concluded anytime soon. Hearing the two matters, a Bench of Justices Anil R. Dave, Kurian Joseph and UU Lalit adjourned the matters to September 14..The two petitions, one filed by Global Indian Lawyers, and the other filed by the Bar Council of India essentially deal with the question of permitting non-Indian law firms to practice within the country..Senior Advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, appearing on behalf of Global Indian Lawyers, informed the bench that the service is not yet complete. Ahmadi also sought the Court’s permission to serve on the Central Government Standing Counsel for all the government respondents, which was allowed by the Court..Senior Advocate Arvind Datar along with Rishi Kumar appearing for six UK-based law firms in the AK Balaji case, accepted notice on behalf of Ashurst in Global Indian Lawyers’ petition..Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for a number of US law firms, also accepted notice in GIL’s petition..Senior Advocates C.U.Singh and Anand Grover appeared for Lawyers Collective..The Court was of the view that the Global Indian Lawyers petition must be heard along with the BCI appeal and therefore, adjourned both the matters to September 14 instructing Global Indian Lawyers to complete service by then..Of course, the courts are not the only forum where the foreign law firm debate is being conducted. The Indian government is already in talks with the Bar Council of India on the opening of the legal market, though how effective these talks will be remains to be seen.