Talks with UK, US for opening up legal sector

India has set up two groups of lawyers and legal experts to hold discussions with their British and American counterparts to open up the legal services sector for foreign players.

"We have set up two groups of experts to work with the UK and the US. The aim is to first let lawyers engage in a dialogue before we move forward," Commerce Minister Kamal Nath told reporters here.

The move to establish the groups follows the commerce ministry's discussion paper in July this year to firm up India's stand at WTO services negotiations and opening up the legal services sector for foreign law firms.

New Delhi has so far not undertaken any commitment in legal services at the WTO, nor has it permitted foreign investment in the sector in view of the opposition from lawyers and the Bar Council.

India has, however, received requests from a host of countries including the US, UK, EU, Brazil, Japan and China to open up the legal sector for foreign law firms.

Nath said the group with the UK was formed under JETCO, while that with the US was under the India-US Business Council.

"There are discussions going on. For example, in India, law firms cannot have more than 20 partners. There is a need to amend the Partnership Act," he said.

Besides legal services, a group of ministers is also looking at the contentious issue of allowing foreign education providers and universities to open up campuses in India. The commerce ministry had last month floated a discussion paper on the issue.