Liberalization is essential

Dear Editor,

Deregulation will be essential to the continuing development and growth of the Indian legal profession, and for India to realize its aspiration of becoming one of the major global financial centres.

While we can appreciate the resistance from Indian legal professionals to opening up the market, given the multitude of regulations that potentially create a non-level playing field, these structural issues can be, and are in the process of being resolved. Further, there is no reason why these issues cannot be resolved in tandem with the opening up of the legal market.

Permitting Indian law firms to affiliate with international law firms in a true economic sense (as opposed to just formal best friends or referral relationships) will better facilitate the sharing of best practices that international firms have developed over decades of work in jurisdictions around the world with their Indian affiliates. Further, similar to Indian corporates that are searching the world over to find accretive companies that will enable them to diversify their revenue base and obtain the best technologies and practices, Indian firms can diversify their revenue base and sources of best practice through affiliations with international firms.