Skip to main content

Procedural hurdle for foreign law firms

The government has set the ball rolling to liberalise legal services, and allow entry of foreign law firms in India. In a meeting chaired by secretary, ministry of law and justice, on Tuesday, there was in- principal agreement among various stakeholders that included representatives of The Bar Council of India, the legal fraternity, and the sector, on the move to open up legal services. However, there are differences among stakeholders on certain procedural issues to allow foreign law firms to offer services in the country.
Last week, The Bar Council of India ( the regulator of country’s legal services) circulated among its members the draft rules for foreign law firms and lawyers to practice in India.
These included the terms for registration with The Bar Council that allows them to offer non- litigation legal opinion in non- Indian laws, in association with Indian law firms.
However, the draft rules attracted criticism from Society of Indian Law Firms (Silf) that has many large- and mid- sized law firms as its members. The lobby group has been advocating a phased entry for foreign law firms and lawyers, spread over five to seven years. “ The draft rules do not reflect our position,” said Lalit Bhasin, president, Silf.
Bhasin said there was a need for internal liberalisation of the legal profession before opening up legal services.
An Indian law firm or lawyer is not allowed to publicise his or her services, but that is not the case with foreign firms, he said. There are issues around ownership structure of foreign law firms. In India, companies are not allowed to set up a law firm.
Business Standard  New Delhi, 06th July 2016

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Data storage norm splits digital payments industry

Data storage norm splits digital payments industry  India’s nascent digital payment industry could be thrown into disarray due to the demand by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that all user data be stored within the country, fears an industry grouping, which has termed the decision as “heavy-handed”, even as others, including the country’s largest digital payment provider Paytm, have hailed the move.  In a bid to narrow the growing schism, the industry is planning to send a formal representation to the regulator highlighting its concerns, a top official told ET.  “We are trying to build a consensus on the issue," said the person adding that the representation to the central bank will be ready this week.  RBI on April 6, mandated all payment companies—global and local—to set up data storage facilities within India by October. The stringent six-month deadline has attracted the ire of several sections of the industry that fear it will lead to a disruption of wel...

Offer’s for all of you

Great Bumper Dhamaka Offer’s for all of you... It's Time to see your Business Online, WebeCreator Offer Website Designing with domain & Email @ nominal charges. For a year For More information visit us http://goo.gl/KlpppF call on 9890151261/9773197533  drop a mail to sales@webecreator.com

Sebi to finalise options in commodities today

The Commodity Derivatives Advisory Committee of the Securities and Exchange Board of India ( Sebi) will meet on Friday with senior officials of the latter, to give a final shape to the rules on options trading in commodity futures, beside revising the warehousing norms to ensure good delivery on settlement. The decision taken, after discussing with the advisory committee, will be placed before the regulator’s board, to finalise the regulations. According to knowledgeable sources, three commodities in each segment, agricultural and non- agricultural, have been proposed for introducing options. It appears commodities from the soya and guar segments are preferred in the former. From the non- agri segment, it is likely that gold, silver and crude oil will be finalised. All these These have better liquidity and both the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange and the Multi Commodity Exchange, respectively, will be able to introduce the options. In the equity segments, options ar...