FOREIGN LAW FIRMS & LAWYERS TO INDIA

ALLOWING FOREIGN LAW FIRMS & LAWYERS TO PRACTICE INDIA

CHALLENGES TO BE DEALT WITH:

Allowing foreign lawyers and law firms to practice in India is not a small decision which should be taken by the Bar Council of India, instead it should be a Policy decision taken by the foreign ministry / central ministry of India. The biggest barrier in allowing legal professionals to India from different countries are 

• LANGUAGE (only few countries in the world have their academic and practicing language as English, most of the countries don’t use English as their language)

• LAW CURRICULUM (law subjects and curriculum are different from country to country, there is no uniform Law syllabus in the world)

• CULTURAL DIFFERENCE (Law deals with regional, cultural & custom issues which are completely different from one country to other)

• DRESS CODE & COURT PROCEDURES (different countries have different dress code and different procedures in Law practice for ex: Jury system in America that we don’t have in India)

FEW SUGGESTIONS FOR CONSIDERING FOREIGN LAW FIRMS AND LAWYERS TO PRACTICE IN INDIA

1. LAW AMENDMENT: Advocate Act should be amended to include non-enrolled advocates of Indian states Bar councils to practice in India or Foreign Lawyers should take a Law degree in India.

2. QUALIFYING EXAM: Foreign Lawyers should attend and pass AIBE exam.

3. SHARE OF EMPLOYMENT: Foreign Law firms should appoint 80% of the staff and lawyers from India who is having Indian States’ Bar Council Enrolment and Indian degree & qualifications.

4. EXCHANGE OF LAWYERS: Foreign Ministry should make a list of countries which are interested in allowing their Law firms and lawyers to Practice in India and these countries should accept Indian Lawyers and Law firms to practice in their country also 

5. UNIQUE ID. NUMBER: There should be an International unique common ID for Lawyers working in foreign countries

6. INTERNATIONAL CONSORTIUM: There should be an association of countries which should form a common practice guideline and protection norms for lawyers from different countries and background to practice in their member countries.

7. REGULATING AUTHORITY: There should be proper scrutiny and background check before giving license to the foreign law firms and lawyers by a specially formed board or panel of authorities from Bar council of India and there should be guidelines for remuneration, employee disputes, work procedure etc., 

by: 

Ambu Raja .RS. Achary

Advocate

New Delhi, India

Mob: +91-9899805358 / 8588855358

Email: adv.amburaja@gmail.com

Blog: https://advamburaja.blogspot.com/