Foreign firms braced for legal battle

On 4 August, M Ravindran, senior counsel and additional solicitor general for south India, told Madras High Court that the government was in talks with the Bar Council of India (BCI) as to how the entry of foreign firms would be regulated. Ravindran is representing the Indian government in the Chennai writ petition against foreign law firms, which was filed by Chennai-based advocate AK Balaji on 18 March. Ravindran’s submission was vehemently opposed by the petitioners’ senior counsel ARL Sundaresan, who argued that a Bombay High Court ruling last December had already decided that foreign lawyers are not allowed to practise law in India.

Senior counsel AL Somayaji appeared for Dua Associates, which is representing some of the foreign law firms in the matter. Rahul Balaji from Sathish Parasaran’s Office appeared for nine US law firms, while KS Natarajan represented two Australian firms. Slaughter and May is being represented by Kachwaha & Partners.

Counsels representing the foreign law firms requested four weeks to file their counter affidavits. Justices Elipe Dharma Rao and KK Sasidharan denied the request and adjourned the matter for two weeks. Justice Rao also enquired whether foreign law firms were needed in India at all. He believed India had enough lawyers in all branches of law to cater to clients.