Lalit Bhasin, the president of the Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF), has responded to the Bar Council of 含羞草社区 (BCI) accusation that the SILF has consistently opposed structured engagement with foreign firms, stating that it supports the process, but it must be conducted properly.
In an exclusive interview with India Business Law Journal, Bhasin said, “We are not at all against the entry of foreign lawyers, but we want it to be done in a proper way where opportunity should be given to have domestic reforms also.”
“It should be done in a legitimate way so that these regulations cannot be challenged,” Bhasin added, referring to the recently amended Bar Council of India Rules for Registration and Regulation of Foreign Lawyers and Foreign Law Firms in India, 2022.
In a statement dated 18 June 2025, the BCI accused the SILF of operating as a “closed group dominated by a few large, well-established firms”, and their affiliations with major foreign law firms allowed foreign legal work to be funnelled to these select Indian firms at the expense of a majority of Indian legal practitioners.
Countering the claims that the SILF comprises elitist firms, Bhasin said, “As a matter of fact, in the committee that [the BCI has] constituted, [there are] three to four big law firms.” The BCI-formed committee aims to study the amended rules and propose solutions to concerns raised by Indian law firms about the entry of their foreign counterparts.
The BCI alleged, “The SILF has also attempted to mischaracterise the regulations by claiming that Indian legal practice is being compromised.”
Bhasin responded that the “SILF committee is only [trying] to help the BCI in rationalising the regulation”.
“We have been having meetings and discussions [with the BCI]. We have given our point of view, and they have been discussing with us. So where is the question of [us having] any obstructionist attitude?” asked Bhasin.
The BCI called the SILF an exclusive association that has not held elections for its office bearers in decades. In response, Bhasin said the BCI was unaware of the SILF’s workings. “On 3 June, much before these communications started, we announced that SILF elections are going to take place for all positions of office bearers and the executive committee, and the election process has already been set in motion, including for the election of the president.”
The SILF will hold elections on 21 July.
IBLJ asked the president whether this would be the first election at the SILF, to which he responded, “We have been having elections.”
Bhasin said one of the major concerns in legal practice in India was the inability to advertise. “Foreign lawyers can advertise anywhere in the world on electronic media through other means, whereas we cannot do anything.
“We can’t even have a proper website” he said, adding that the BCI’s approach must be “a proper, legal, legitimate, rational way”.
On the SILF’s perceived monopoly, Bhasin points out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has recently spoken of the need for a “Big Four” among chartered accountants. “So why,” he asked, “can’t this apply to law?” Indian firms, he argued, had the potential to “become Baker McKenzie, then Herbert Smith and Clifford Chance”, especially since “when they [Indian firms] go global, they will automatically become competitive”.
When asked whether the SILF would participate in the BCI’s national-level conference of Indian law firms in Mumbai in September 2025, Bhasin said, yes.
“We respect them [the BCI] as an entity, as our regulator.” Bhasin said all that SILF wanted was for them to “consult the stakeholders also, consult us and if you find some suggestions or valid suggestions, have them incorporated in the regulations or modify the regulation”.
“We will not take an adversarial attitude.”
