Madras High Court: Foreign Law Firms get time till August 19 to file objections

The Foreign Law Firms case was listed before the Madras High Court today and after being delayed for several weeks the matter was taken up in Court Hall 2 of the Madras High Court. Advocate A.K. Balaji who represents Association of Indian Lawyers had filed this writ petition, which not only deals with the issue of entry of foreign law firms, but also on the modus operandi currently adopted by these firms to provide legal services in India. Women Lawyers Association also joined the writ petition against the entry of foreign law firms. Senior Advocate for the petitioners, ARL Sundaresan pressed for an injunction against the operation of foreign law firms in India. ARL Sundaresan cited the judgments of the Bombay High Court in the Lawyers Collective case and that of ITAT against Linklaters and Clifford Chance to indicate that the foreign law firms who are already present in India and are violating the Advocates Act. Additional Solicitor General (Chennai), M. Ravindran, who appeared for the Union Government pleaded before the Court that there is already a consultation process that has been initiated by the Government to regulate the entry of foreign law firms.

Madras High Court: Foreign Law Firms get time till August 19 to file objections barandbench.com Thu, Aug 5, 2010