Indian law firms agree to open doors for foreign peers

The Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF) has recommended to the government that foreign law firms be allowed into India in four phases, marking a reversal in position that could lead to the bar being lifted. However, the group is still opposed to the Big Four — Deloitte, PwC, EY and KPMG — offering legal services.

The entry of overseas law firms has long been staunchly opposed by their domestic counterparts, led by SILF.

If the government agrees, the Advocates Act will need to be amended. The government may get the ministries of commerce and law to work on a regulatory structure to allow multinational law firms in, said people in the know.


SILF recently submitted to the government a detailed plan on the matter. This includes allowing Indian firms to promote their services.

“We want that foreign law firms be allowed in India but that has to happen in a phased manner,” said Lalit Bhasin, president of SILF, the representative body of law firms in the country. “In the first phase, Indian firms should be allowed to have brochures and websites, then foreign law firms should be allowed to advise Indian clients on foreign law. In the third phase, they should be allowed collaborative advice and in the last phase they should be allowed to practice domestic laws with some exceptions.”

They should be excluded from key sectors such as defence, as in Singapore, Bhasin said.

“The government first has to amend the Advocates Act as currently only Indian citizens can pursue law,” Bhasin said. “However, SILF and Bar Council of India are strongly against the Big Four venturing into the legal profession and we are fighting them in courts.”

The Delhi bar council said it’s opposed to overseas law firms.

“The stated position of the Bar Council of Delhi (BCD) as well as other bar councils of our country is to oppose the entry of foreign law firms in any manner,” said chairman KC Mittal. The BCD has directed lawyers affiliated with the Big Four to refrain from practising law until further orders. It’s hearing a complaint filed by SILF against major audit and accounting firms practising law. It’s expected to hear the matter next on August 23.

Govt in Favour of Allowing Foreign Law Firms
Indian law firms have previously opposed moves to open up the sector.

The government had amended a rule to allow multinational law firms to set up offices and advise clients in special economic zones in 2017 to benefit the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT). After law firms condemned this as a ploy to allow multinationals in through the ‘backdoor’, the plan was abandoned.

The firms were also up in arms in 2018 when an expert panel constituted by the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) recommended that the Advocates Act be amended to allow audit firms to offer legal services. The MCA panel, which was set up to look into the regulation of audit firms and their networks, was of the view that development of multi-disciplinary practice (MDP) firms should be facilitated, and to meet this goal, auditors should be allowed to expand their portfolio of services.

Local law firms are fighting a legal battle with the Big Four over the latter allegedly flouting rules and offering legal services. Globally, they offer full-scale legal services in some geographies and ‘alternate’ legal services in others. According to a senior counsel based in New Delhi, the government has on several occasions made clear that it wants foreign law firms in India.