[Exclusive]: BCI to prepare draft regulations on Entry of Foreign firms

As reported earlier on Bar & Bench, representatives of the Bar Council of India met officials from the Law Ministry yesterday to discuss the entry of foreign law firms. Law Secretary PK Malhotra told Bar & Bench that liberalisation of the legal market was discussed in great detail yesterday..Malhotra says that yesterday’s meeting marked a “step forward” towards liberalising the Indian legal market..“The BCI has agreed to prepare a draft regulation for consideration by the concerned parties.The draft will be circulated shortly for consideration by the concerned parties. This is a step forward and we are very happy with the development.”.With regard to the litigations pending in the Supreme Court, Malhotra said,.“Once the regulation is finalized, then we will make a submission before the Court”..Malhotra was referring to two petitions that are pending in the Supreme Court. The first is BCI’s appeal against the Madras High Court’s decision in AK Balaji that allowed foreign lawyers to “fly in fly out” to advise their clients..The second is an appeal filed by Global Indian Lawyers, against the 2009 Lawyers Collective judgment. And, unlike the AK Balaji case, the society does not want to limit discussion to the “fly in fly out” provision; rather it wants the apex court to decide whether the entry to foreign law firms is permitted or not..Whether yesterday’s meeting will actually result in something significant remains to be seen. In fact, even Malhotra was cautiously optimistic about the effect of these draft regulations..“We have to watch the interest of the Indian legal community. It should be a balanced regulation without compromising the interest of the legal community then only we can provide some comfort to foreign lawyers.”.Apart from the discussion on the entry of foreign lawyers, yesterday’s meeting also saw another important issue being discussed – reforms in the legal education. More specifically, Malhotra said that the BCI had now reconstituted its inspection team to include a retired High Court judge and an academician..Malhotra said that this was a “good development”; whether it translates into better regulation remains to be seen.