Law.com - Indian Bar to Visit U.K. for Reform Talks

Law.com - Indian Bar to Visit U.K. for Reform Talks
This looks like small progress with a very big problem with long term implications for India. The most significant aspect of the Bar Council's hard line is that it inhibits the growth of a thriving international legal community in India. This is absolutely necessary if India is going to become an important legal center.

I encountered this attitude from the Barra Mexicana when I was part of the US legal services negotiating team for NAFTA. Our Mexican colleagues did not want to consider that they may have been denying Mexico City of its rightful place as an important legal center for Latin America. Because of the Barra's hostility towards foreign firms, Miami fulfilled much of that role. India is doing the same thing, but how do you explain that to people who are blinded by the fear that foreign law firms will dominate local practice? That rarely happens, even in the most liberal of jurisdictions, and there is ample evidence to prove this. On the other hand, when international firms are present in numbers, there is usually more work for all concerned.

Here is a link to a good article about the status of the Indian legal profession that appeared in a recent edition of The Economist: http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11090513. Anyone interested in this area should probably read it.