The Supreme Court recently stated that foreign firms, companies and law firms cannot practice legal profession in India.
The apex court, however, asserted that there was no bar on foreign law firms or foreign lawyers to visit India for a temporary period on a ‘fly in and fly out’ basis for giving legal advice to their clients in India on foreign law or their own system of law and on diverse international legal issues.
The court's verdict came after petitions were filed by Bar Council of India and others.
Justices AK Goel and Uday Lalit stated that the ‘fly in and fly out’ arrangement would only cover a casual visit not amounting to ‘practice.’ In case of a dispute, whether a foreign lawyer was limiting himself to the aforementioned arrangement on a casual basis for the purpose of solely giving legal advice to their clients in India, can be determined by the Bar Council of India and that the Bar Council of India or Union of India can make appropriate rules in this regard including extending Code of Ethics being applicable even to such cases.
The court also said that while foreign lawyers cannot be debarred completely from coming to India to conduct arbitration proceedings in disputes arising out of a contract relating to international commercial arbitration, they will be governed by a code of conduct applicable to the legal profession in India.
The Supreme Court held that practicing of law not only includes appearance in courts but also giving of opinion, drafting of instruments, participation in conferences involving legal discussion as well. The prohibition applicable to any person in India, other than an advocate enrolled under the Advocates Act also applies to a foreign lawyer or firm.
