Supreme Court advocate, Lok Sabha member and BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi, speaking at a legal conference of the US India Business Council (USIBC) in Delhi yesterday, said that she would ‘extend protection’ for Indian lawyers against the entry of foreign law firms to India.
She began her talk by saying that the USIBC was in India to lobby for the entry of foreign law firms, that lobbying was not permitted in India, and then talked about the need for more H-1B visas for Indian lawyers who want to work in the US. “You’re welcome [in India], but I need the same work visa for my friends to operate in the US, there can’t be a difference that when it comes to giving work visas to lawyers from India you decline that,” she said.
After Lekhi’s talk, a USIBC member told the assembled audience, which consisted primarily of Indian lawyers, that the USIBC’s mission was not to lobby for the entry of foreign law firms but to increase cooperation between Indian and US law firms and industry.
“There’s no surprise that India is competitive and we have gone to great lengths to protect our legal practice and lawyers,” Lekhi added in her talk. “I want to extend that protection, because if even this business goes out, what are my gains. And you won’t blame me, it is important for you to enter Indian market.”
Lekhi noted that she believed no US lawyers were looking to practice litigation in India but were only focused on corporate and commercial practice.
She also said that Indian students studying abroad to her was a business proposition, with “money going out of the country, which is fine in a give and take relationship”, though students going abroad did pick up useful skills.
Lekhi cited figures by UK-based RSG Consulting on foreign law firms, as reported byLegally India in 2013, which she said showed that UK law firms made more revenue in India while US firms had more volume, and that “American firms which are coming to the country are mid-level to low level, not the top notch”. She also cited statistics collated byLegally India and published in Mint in 2011 about the GDP per lawyer in various countries, to establish that India was competitive with other jurisdictions.
Lekhi’s talk was preceded earlier in the afternoon by BJP national spokesperson and lawyer Nalin Kohli, who, responding to a question asked by Legally India at the end of his speech, said that the topic of liberalisation of the legal market had not come up yet within the current government.
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