 "Richard Verma")
The United States ambassador to India Richard R Verma called upon the Indian legal sector to open up to foreign players.
In his speech, the United States liaison called on India to fulfill its global potential and highlighted the necessity of co-operation and collaboration in this increasingly multinational world of trade and commerce. He was addressing a conference in the capital on “Opening of India’s Legal Services Sector: Examining the Current Status and Way Forward”.
Verma spoke of the strategic relationship between India and the US and quoted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s belief in the two nations being ‘indispensable partners’, while making a bid for increased interaction between the two legal sectors.
“The United States commends the Bar Council (of India)’s recent attempt at opening of the (Indian) legal sector and will keep working with the council and the Society of Indian Law Firms to make reciprocity a reality,” said Verma.
The ambassador also mentioned the importance of interactions between the two educational structures and stated that India and the US were in the process of drafting a Memorandum of Understanding on the subject, which would allow students to embark on exchanges to the other country for credit.
According to Verma, liberalisation is not something the Indian legal industry needed to be worried about, as the US agenda is not to take over the Indian market but instead to promote multi-jurisdictional expertise and common growth for both countries.
Also speaking at the event was Sudhanshu Pandey, joint secretary, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, who spoke about the importance of realising the differences between the two legal structures and the necessity for effective communication to bridge the gap in understanding.
“India has 140,000 lawyers, but only 200,000 in the corporate legal sector. It is the vast majority of the others, who have their reservations against liberalisation even though the process will not affect them at all,” said Pandey.
According to Pandey, India still requires certain domestic reforms to allow Indian and foreign legal entities to compete on a level-playing field but also stressed on the importance of a Darwinian (survival of the fittest) approach towards the country’s legal industry the longer run.
