The Bar Council of India (BCI) has clarified a recent circular allowing foreign lawyers and law firms to practice in India, saying they can only advise foreign clients on foreign law.

“Foreign lawyers and law firms should be allowed to advise their clients only on foreign law and international law,” said a press release issued by BCI.

“They will only provide advisory work on such laws to their foreign clients,” it added.

They will only be allowed to work in non-litigation areas, it added. These areas do not involve the judicial process and include corporate consulting, negotiations, mergers, acquisitions and document structuring.

In addition, BCI has made it clear that foreign lawyers’ entry will be reciprocal. “Only lawyers from those countries can practice in India, and Indian lawyers can practice in India,” it said.

The Supreme Court, on March 13, 2018, in BCI v AK Balaji & Ors, asked BCI or the government to make rules regarding entering foreign lawyers and law firms. Last week, the BCI issued a circular allowing foreign lawyers and law firms to practice foreign law and international arbitration in India for non-litigation matters based on reciprocity.

“It is to be noted that this rule should not be misinterpreted as allowing any attorney who is not a lawyer or any BPO/etc to come to India and start practising in any field and/or in any mode of the transaction if, in essence, and substance in practice, this is equivalent to the legal practice in AK Balaji & Ors. Furthermore, reciprocity is the essence of the rule, which may be kept in mind,” BCI said in its latest release.

“Experience and facts have shown that in the case of international commercial arbitration, multinational corporations and foreign commercial entities do not like India as a venue for arbitration proceedings as they are not allowed to hire lawyers and law firms from their home country to advise them on international commercial arbitration proceedings. Therefore, they prefer London, Singapore, Paris etc, as the venue for the arbitration proceedings,” it added.

The BCI also said the rules would help India become a hub for international commercial arbitration.

“BCI is committed to protecting and preserving the interests and welfare of advocates in this country and asks the entire fraternity of advocates to welcome these rules in the national interest,” it said.