Senior representatives of the Bar Council of England & Wales and the Law Society told a United Kingdom (UK) parliamentary committee on Thursday that India’s refusal to open its legal market under the proposed UK-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA) has shut the door on meaningful professional services integration.

The discussions were a part of the International Agreements Committee deliberations on India-UK FTA chaired by  Lord Peter Goldsmith.

Appearing before the House of Lords’ International Agreements Committee, Bar Council Chair Barbara Mills KC said that she had just returned from India after engaging with regulators on market access. Mills described deep disappointment at the exclusion of legal services from the FTA. She added that India had insisted legal practice was outside the scope of trade negotiations.

Explaining why legal services were left out of the FTA, she said,

"As I understand it, obviously that agreement was shrouded with confidentiality. But what we understand from the press is two things. One is that India regards the profession as a noble one and therefore outside of trade agreements. But also, more particularly, there came a point in the negotiations where there was a request to drop legal services out of the regime. And that was so that India would drop its request for post-study visas."

She also flagged that India’s revised foreign lawyers rules still impose high fees and intrusive disclosure obligations and lack reciprocity.

“There is a deposit of US$10,000, there is a registration of US$15,000, and if you fly in and fly out, there is US$3,000...it seems to suggest that the only work open for us now is non-litigious advisory work.

Mills further highlighted the requirement to register details of the client and the claim, described is a fundamental challenge for arbitration. She cautioned that India’s ambition of becoming an arbitration hub required openness.

"And so it is a missed opportunity for England and Wales, and it is, although one says it carefully because unsolicited advice can sound like criticism, it is also a missed opportunity, we would respectfully say, for the Indian market, because in order to be an international hub for arbitration, it requires an openness that, say, London enjoys...if you create contracts in a country and you want to be able to arbitrate, you have to be able to say to those clients that you can choose your counsel."

She added that the environment in India as regards entry of foreign lawyers is not hostile, but tense.

"I wouldn't call it hostile, but I certainly noticed a tension on the ground when I was there a couple of weeks ago. And tension as between the government - which has an aspiration to improve its and grow its economy, which has at its heart the arbitration services - and the lawyers on the ground who are protective of their territory."

She, however, clarified,

"I think we must press on because the London International Dispute Week, for example, is known as the London Indian Dispute Week. Such is the volume of people, lawyers who come to London. And we must press on because we have a rich history with India. And we must press on because there are yet untapped areas that we might venture into. For example, the area in which I practice -family law - I was very warmly received in all regards with family lawyers there who were very keen to engage with us."

Head of International at the Law Society Mickael Laurans told the committee that the exclusion of legal services hurts both economies.

“Excluding legal services from the free trade agreement is a missed opportunity...India is the largest jurisdiction in the world where foreign lawyers and foreign law firms cannot establish."

He noted that most India-related work for global corporates continues to be serviced from London, Dubai or Singapore, despite strong bilateral legal engagement.

“Legal services are an enabling sector, and not securing market access means that other industries will not necessarily have the legal advice of their choice accompanying them in India.”

He concluded with hope for the future, in the form of the UK-India Vision 2035 commitment between the two countries.

"We will continue, as Law Society, this discussion with the BCI. And it would be great to still get the support of the UK government on that. Legal services are covered in the so-called UK-India Vision 2035. There is a dialogue between the UK and Indian Ministry of Justice on various issues, including legal practice in other countries. And it's important that we keep the momentum going."