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Ashurst shuts Delhi branch in wake of Lawyers Collective judgment

I always smile when discussions of whether to open up the Indian legal market arise. More often than not, it descends (rapidly, like above posters) into a "My legal system can beat your legal system in a fight"-type argument. Has anyone thought that maybe Indian companies (ie the clients - have we forgotten about them?) are expanding outside discrete geographic areas and need legal assistance wherever they might be - UK, EU, USA, Africa, Asia, Australia etc? The clients will pick and choose the legal advisers they think will suit them. If Indian law firms do allow foreign law firms to operate officially in India, I think they will see a similar choice being made by foreign clients expanding to India. I'd like to see a discussion focussed on whether foreign or Indian lawyers better understand: - clients' commercial drivers; - clients' cultural and professional expectations of their legal advisors; - the legal advisors' ability to add value to the client; or - where the global legal profession will be in 50 years time.

23-Feb-2010

3:22 pm