To prepare a centralised registry of all lawyers, law firms, says BCI

The Bar Council of India plans a national registry and new body for law firms, accusing SILF of gatekeeping and stifling smaller practices over foreign lawyer rules

The Bar Council of India (BCI) is in the process of preparing a centralised registry of all law firms and lawyers to establish a democratically elected, pan-India organisation of Indian law firms, the lawyers' governing body said.

 

"This organisation will ensure that voices from every region and practice level are included in the policy dialogues," BCI said.

 

The Council was responding to the Society of Indian Law Firms' (SILF’s) opposition to the entry of foreign lawyers and law firms into the country.

 

In its press release, the BCI said SILF did not represent the broad spectrum of Indian law firms.

 

“It functions primarily as a closed group dominated by a few large, well-established firms. Its stance and actions do not reflect the concerns or aspirations of more than 90 per cent of India’s smaller or emerging law firms,” the BCI said in a press note.

 

The Council, which is the apex lawyers' representative and governance body, had on June 14 constituted a high-level committee chaired by Cyril Shroff, the managing partner of law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, to examine concerns around the May 2025 notification on the entry and operation of foreign lawyers and law firms in India.

 

Shortly after this, on June 17, SILF formed a committee of lawyers, headed by Shardul Shroff of Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, to suggest changes to the recently notified BCI rules allowing foreign lawyers and law firms to work in India. 

 

The BCI said that the consistent feedback it had received indicated that SILF has historically acted to preserve its members' commercial interests at the expense of young, deserving Indian lawyers and new legal practices striving to grow in an increasingly competitive and global legal arena. The lawyers' governing body also alleged that law firms comprising SILF had maintained close affiliations with major foreign legal firms, enabling them to create a “parallel legal services economy, wherein foreign legal work is funnelled through select Indian firms”.

 

Corporate, transactional, and arbitration-related legal services in India have been monopolised by a small group of law firms, which has stifled the growth of smaller law firms and talented young lawyers, the BCI said.

 

“The BCI, through these regulations, seeks to democratize access to cross-border legal work, and dismantle the structural monopolies that have long existed within the Indian legal services sector,” the release said.