The Bar Council of India on Wednesday said it has decided to allow foreign lawyers to practise foreign law in India on a reciprocity basis, in a reversal of its previous stand.

“Opening up of law practice in India to foreign lawyers in the field of practice of foreign law, diverse international legal issues in non-litigious matters and in international arbitration cases would go a long way in helping legal profession/domain grow in India to the benefit of lawyers in India too,” the BCI said in its new rules for the registration and regulation of foreign lawyers and law firms that it has notified, per Live Law.

Currently, under the Advocates Act of India, 1961, only lawyers registered with the BCI—a statutory body established by Parliament—are allowed to practise in India.

In 2018, the BCI told the Supreme Court that it was not in favour of allowing foreign law firms to open branches in India. The apex court at the time upheld previous judgements by the Madras and Bombay high courts reaffirming that foreign lawyers cannot practise in India either on the litigation or non-litigation side, and also gave the BCI regulatory control over overseas legal professionals even if they are in the country on temporary assignments.

The Madras HC had permitted foreign lawyers to visit India temporarily on a ‘fly in, fly out’ basis for advising clients on foreign law matters, but the SC narrowed that by ruling that visits, if regular, may still qualify as “practice of law” and therefore be barred.

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Under the new rules, foreign lawyers and law firms looking to practise in India will still need to register with the BCI. While they will only be allowed to participate in non-litigious matters, the areas they can practise in will be decided by the BCI in consultation with the law ministry.

Foreign lawyers and law firms will not be permitted to appear before any court, tribunal or other statutory or regulatory authority, or perform work pertaining to conveyancing of property, title investigation or other similar work, but will be allowed to carry out transactional/corporate work on joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property matters, drafting of contracts and other related matters on a reciprocal basis, according to Bar and Bench.

The registration fee for a foreign lawyer has been set at $25,000 and for a law firm at $50,000.

Those providing legal advice on a ‘fly in, fly out’ basis will not need to register with the BCI and are exempted from the fees, but they cannot have an office in India or practise for more than 60 days in any 12-month period, the BCI said.