The Indian Legal Profession
The Practice
January/February 2018
A shift from a closed economy to an open economy in the 1990s significantly altered the legal profession in India, calling for new types of corporate lawyers.
January/February 2018
The Indian Legal Profession
in the Age of Globalization
In 2011 the Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession launched the Globalization, Lawyers, and Emerging Economies (GLEE) research project. Then, in June 2017 the research underpinning GLEE’s research into the Indian legal profession was published by Cambridge University Press in a major volume entitled "The Indian Legal Profession in the Age of Globalization: The Rise of the Corporate Legal Sector and Its Impact on Lawyers and Society."
Indian Lawyers and the State
At first glance, one might not view a declining number of lawyers directly elected into the Indian government as a paramount concern. However, this decline is taking place against a backdrop of significant policy problems that lawyers are arguably among the best suited to solve. One example making headlines in recent years is the implementation of India’s Aadhaar program.
Foreign Firms Prepare for Landing?
The Advocates Act of 1961, which regulates the profession, permits only Indian citizens ages 21 and older who have obtained a law degree from a recognized university to be admitted as advocates. The Bar Council of India, the body established by the Advocates Act to regulate the profession on an ongoing basis, has been a staunch opponent to liberalization and has interpreted admission and practice rules in the most restrictive manners.
Modi in Davos; Wilkins in India
The tension between national development and globalization fits with the larger narrative of India that recent research depicts: a rising power moving to meet its aspirations, but with some inconsistencies still unresolved. As Modi noted, however, India has a solid foundation upon which to build. “It is a matter of satisfaction for us that the largest democracy on earth is also the fastest-growing major economy."
10 Thoughts on Law and Justice in India
Fali S. Nariman is a Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court of India and President Emeritus of the Bar Association of India. In this article, he shares some thoughts on the future of law in India.
The Future of the Indian Legal Profession
Adapted from Judge Chandrachud’s keynote address at the Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession’s Delhi book launch of "The Indian Legal Profession in the Age of Globalization: The Rise of the Corporate Legal Sector and its Impact on Lawyers and Society" (Cambridge University Press, 2017) held on December 11, 2017. Transcript edited for style and length.
