Legal news in Asia and the markets across the Asia-Pacific region have been liberalized in recent years. Liberalization of the Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, South Korean and Indian legal markets are all at various stages of development. India, arguably, is the least liberal among them. Member states of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are required to liberalize their legal markets. It is the driving force that has pried open lucrative Asia-Pacific legal markets to foreign competition in recent years.
Last May, India’s Bharatiya Janata Party came back to power after a decade in opposition. Narendra Modi (@NarendraModi), its leader, has become India’s new prime minister. As Modi and his party are focusing to make the country’s economy more business-friendly, including more receptive to foreign investment – will he also open the country’s legal market to foreign competition?
This question and others were posed to one of India’s leading legal journalists, Anuj Agrawal Associate Editor of Bar & Bench (@BarandBench) in an exclusive interview. This appears in the recently released book by this author A Comprehensive Guide to the Asia-Pacific Legal Markets. We’re highlighting each contributor to the book in a series of articles here in Asia Law Portal. This article is the 5th in that series. Here’s a preview of that Anuj Agrawal interview:
Will India’s new government liberalize it’s legal market?
As Agrawal outlined: “The outcome of liberalization is inevitable, but when is the big question. My gut feeling is that it is not going to happen in the next 3-4 years, even with a government that has projected itself to be FDI friendly.”
When will India’s lawyers get permit to adopt full social media activity, including blogging?
“I certainly do see lawyers using social media in the near future. But I wouldn’t be expecting any change in the laws per se.” Agrawal explaind that “The Bar Council of India’s Chairman said that the regulatory body would be allowing law firms to set up their own web sites. So you could say that there are at least some instances of the sector opening up to new media.”
Where is foreign investment into India providing work for lawyers?
“PE Funds.. healthcare, consumer, e-commerce, entertainment, IT/ITES, education. Infrastructure has got huge potential but because of various issues including clearances etc, it [has not caught] up in terms of investment.”
How are law students in India faring in the “new global legal normal”?
“There is certainly increasing levels of interest in pursuing non-traditional career options amongst Indian law students. But I should clarify that this trend largely limits those who have pursued an undergraduate law course. There is an intense amount of competition to get into a limited number of firms in legal news in Asia. Moreover, I think this is naturally resulting in law grads at least considering non-traditional careers.”
- The full text of this interview with Anuj Agrawal appears in the new book: A Comprehensive Guide to the Asia-Pacific Legal Markets
- For more information about Anuj Agrawal, see his LinkedIn profile — or see Bar & Bench, of which he is Associate Editor.
