Indian legal market liberalisation: one step forward, one step back

• The UK legal sector awaits a hugely significant decision on the potential liberalisation of the Indian market.
• If liberalisation is allowed, major UK firms are well placed to push further into the market.
• Can liberalisation be the catalyst for Indian firms’ growth and influence abroad?

It was in mid-March that the Supreme Court of India ruled on whether to open up the Indian legal market to overseas firms. It decided not to decide. At least not fully. So we have another pause in the decades-long to-ing and fro-ing on the matter.

The current status sees a small concession in that foreign lawyers may now formally visit India on a ‘fly in/fly out’ basis and may offer clients advice on foreign laws. However, it remains that foreign firms cannot set up Indian offices without changes to the Indian