BCI inks pact with UK counterpart on exchange programme for lawyers of two countries

New Delhi, June 6 (PTI) The Bar Council of India (BCI) has signed a pact with its British counterpart and Law Society of England and Wales for an exchange programme for lawyers from the two nations to help them gain experience and skill training in a wide variety of legal subjects including international arbitration.

The apex bar body, which inked the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Bar Council of England and Wales and the Law Society of England and Wales on Monday in London, however, made it clear that the exchange programme will not entitle Indian lawyers to practise law in the United Kingdom, a press statement said on Tuesday.

“However, the lawyers recommended by the BCI shall have no right to practice in the UK in terms of the MoU. The purpose is to only facilitate an opportunity of learning and gaining experience in both jurisdictions,” it said.

BCI Chairperson and senior lawyer Manan Kumar Mishra, who represented the apex bar body, said this agreement will go “a long way in fostering the exchange of legal acumen, skill training, ideas between the legal fraternity of both countries and Indian lawyers will be benefited.”

He said lawyers and law students will gain expertise in the field of international arbitrations and get opportunities to attend the offices of reputed international law firms and renowned solicitors and barristers.

“Under the MoU, the Bar Council of India has been authorized to recommend some young lawyers to the Law Society and to the Bar Council of England & Wales to provide opportunities of training and learning in International Law Firms, good Law Offices and in English Law Courts,” the statement, issued by BCI Secretary Srimanto Sen, said.

The MoU also provides for extending training facilities to the solicitors and barristers of England and Wales, it said.

“Such trainee Solicitors & Barristers shall not be allowed to practice in any form in India under the terms of the MOU and the 90 days programme shall be confined to training and learning only,” it added.

The BCI will recommend and sponsor only select “meritorious, deserving advocates who normally are unable to afford availing such avenues”, the statement said.

The MoU was signed in a meeting held in London on June 5 by the Chairman of the Bar Council of India, the President of the Bar Council of England and Wales as well as the President of Law Society of England and Wales.

The BCI chairperson said necessary changes will be made in the regulations soon and the registration of foreign lawyers and law firms in India will start thereafter.

In March this year, the BCI had taken a significant decision to permit foreign lawyers and law firms to practise in areas such as foreign law, international legal issues and arbitration matters, after dropping its long-standing opposition. The bar body had said the legal fraternity here may be left behind if it sleeps over the matter.

The decision to notify the Bar Council of India Rules for Registration and Regulation of Foreign Lawyers and Foreign Law Firms in India, 2022 had evoked mixed reactions from bar leaders and eminent lawyers.