Chennai, Jul 13 (PTI) Notwithstanding Bar Council of India’s opposition to the opening up of legal services as per the GATT agreement, some experts in the sector say it would lead to a boom, similar to that in the IT industry.
A tremendous growth could be witnessed in corporate legal sector and legal process outsourcing in the coming years, said Ritvik Lukose, vice president of Rainmaker T&R, a leading legal recruitment and training firm.
“The opening up is already there with many international law firms, predominantly from the US and the UK, associating with their Indian counterparts. Once WTO’s General Agreement on Trade of Services comes into force in the next one or two years, they would be able to set up offices here,” he said.
According to industry researcher ValueNotes, India’s revenue from legal services offshoring is slated to grow from USD 146 million in 2006 to USD 640 million by the end of 2010.
The industry employed around 7,500 people in India as of 2006 end and the number is expected to touch 32,000 by the end of 2010.
Bar Council of India (BCI) fears that this will pose a threat to the job security of the lawyers here.
“We are opposing the entry of foreign firms in toto. The government decided to sign the (GATT) agreement without consulting us. Majority of lawyers in the country are against it,” Dhanpal Raj, Chairman, Executive Committee, BCI, said.
The BCI is also against entry of foreign lawyers into the country. PTI
