A year on, just one foreign law firm has entered India

A LITTLE OVER a year after the Bar Council of India (BCI) decided to allow entry of foreign law firms into the country, the scorecard is stuck at just one.

- JYOTSNA BHATNAGAR

Link Legal announced a "combination" with one of the world's largest global law firms, Dentons, in May last year.

But the tie-up is a mere "handshake" or at most a co-branding exercise and does not herald an actual "entry" in the real sense of the term, legal experts say.

Bharat Anand, senior partner at Khaitan & Co, said the lack of interest of foreign legal entities shows that "the old play book of one step forward and two steps back"by the BCI would not work anymore."

It's very apparent that the regular flip flops done by successive governments over the years has been a reason for the international law firms to pause and recalibrate their strategies and plans for India," Anand added.

Echoing similar sentiments Ritvik Lukose, co-founder and director of Vahura, the country's largest specialist legal and governance search, and consulting firm, said that from a regulatory perspective, there is a lot of uncertainty and lack of clarity about the issue even a year after the BCI notification.