BCI meets to discuss foreign law firms and legal education Foreign law firms after consultation with various stakeholders tougher standards for law schools and law practice

The BCI started a two-day meeting to address various issues including legal education, All India Bar Exam (AIBE) and foreign law firms. While most people were hoping that the BCI would take a decision on the foreign law firms and on the AIBE. However, the BCI response after the meeting was that “issue of foreign law firms was on the agenda, but the General Council Meeting could not happen as the Legal Education Committee Meeting took most of the two days”..The Bar Council of India (BCI), conducted the “Robing Ceremony” and “Administrating Oath” ceremony on August 21. The “Robing ceremony” commenced, with the senior-most Member BCI, Biri Singh Sinsinwar who was robed by Gopal Subramanium (pictured). After this ceremony, the BCI started a two-day meeting on various issues including legal education, All India Bar Exam (AIBE) and foreign law firms. Here is a summary of the issues discussed..Malpractice to be monitored through UIN.Gopal Subramanium said, “We have addressed the issue adversely effecting the legal profession at various stages with regard to quality of legal education. We plan to formulate new standards and curriculum, which will be mandatory from 2011 onwards. The AIBE has been designed with the help of experts and will be comparable to the highest standards”..He added on to say, “The BCI will also be collaborating with various Courts, through a Unique Identification Number (UIN) scheme for lawyers, to ensure that only those graduates who have passed the AIBE have the right to practice. The UIN project, apart from ensuring that every fresh graduate passes the exam, proposes to provide a unique identity to every advocate in the country today, making him eligible for a variety of services such as insurance and counseling..At the meeting, BCI also proposed to establish a knowledge web with access to some of the largest databases of information at subsidized rates. Apart from this the Council will conduct programs for continuing legal education for existing advocates, much on the same lines as done overseas. Advocates will be kept abreast of the latest developments of the law through a continuing set of seminars and lectures by experts in various fields. The continuing legal education program will also provide a platform for lawyers, from all over the country to meet and share their experience with each other.”.Law Colleges & AIBE deadline.On Law college accredition, the outcome is that most colleges have been put on parole. “The pruning has started and the standard set is very high” said a BCI member. The last date for submitting applications for the AIBE might get extended, as some colleges are reporting delay in their results..An insider who declined to be named said, “There are delays with the results, in some of the Universities in the south of India. This will be discussed today at the meeting”. However, there is no decision yet on this issue, he said..Foreign law firms & Indian law firms.The issue of foreign law firms was on the agenda, but the General Council Meeting could not happen as the Legal Education Committee Meeting took most of the two days..Speaking with Bar & Bench (after the completion of the meetings on Sunday), an insider source at the BCI said, “On the issue of foreign law firms, the BCI internally has decided, although will not be communicated to the media at this point, to go through a transparent process before formulating any legal opinion. The BCI is hoping and would want to hear out all stakeholders, keeping in mind interests of all 1.2 million odd lawyers that come under its purview and thereafter prepare a compendium or a report to forward to the law ministry and other relevant ministries”. He added “since it is a sensitive topic, BCI as a body will formulate an opinion only after such consultation”.With regard to Indian law firms, the BCI is certain they need to be brought under the overall supervision of the BCI and accordingly steps will be taken, to either amend the already existing position or prepare new rules so as to cover Indian law firms as entities under the Advocates Act..Bar Council yet to decide on nature and extent of liability of LLP’s.The Advocates Act appears to be dealing with only individuals and not Limited Liability Partnerships (LLP). One may also interpret that the Advocates Act also covers partnership firms as they exist today because partnership is not a separate legal entity, no different from that of the partners..As a partnership, the liability is unlimited whereas under an LLP it is limited to the extent of the Partners shareholding. So the BCI is yet to take a view on this issue. “We will take a compounded view on how to recognize LLPs, if at all and what should be the extent of liability in such cases,” said a source in the BCI..Ceremony.The Robing ceremony was hosted in the Imperial Hotel, New Delhi. Speaking with Bar & Bench, Gopal Subramanium said, “This ceremony is a benchmark we are creating. The robe is an Australian and European blend. We intend to hold highest standards of the legal profession and there must be a formality attached to the proceedings of the BCI, so we decided we will wear separate robes as Bar Councillors and also administer to ourselves an oath of office to maintain the higher standards of the professional conduct. This is necessary because one of the items we will be considering in the deliberations of the Bar Council is that all new entrants of the legal profession will be requested by the Chief Justice of the respective High Courts to administer the oath of office, when they (new-entrants) join the Bar. We think it is important and a self reminder to carry this message all the time in our conduct of professionalism”.