CHENNAI: The Union Government has called upon the legal fraternity to weigh its — and the country's — stakes and respond with its suggestions regarding the stance to be adopted in the ongoing service negotiations in the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

A consultation paper on "Legal Services under GATS" (General Agreement on Trade in Services), brought out by the Trade Policy Division of the Commerce Ministry, says "it is important that we look into the immense trade potential of the Indian legal profession, but without compromising on the interests of Indian Advocates,'' and adds, "At the same time, it is a reality that the Indian economy is fast integrating into the global economy. While a number of foreign companies are investing in India, Indian companies are also acquiring foreign companies on a regular basis. This requires capacity building of Indian lawyers and Indian law firms in areas such as international law, third country law and patents law so that they can not only advise the foreign companies in India, but also support Indian companies acquiring assets abroad."

According to the paper, under GATS, the U.S., the European Communities, Australia, Singapore, Japan, China, Switzerland, New Zealand and Brazil have requested India to take commitment in legal services. "These requests have also been reflected in the process of plurilateral requests which are mostly for FLC's (foreign legal consultants) in only corporate and international law. There is no such request to practise domestic law in Indian courts. These requests are only for their engagement in a consultative capacity.''

There are also requests for commercial association between foreign and local lawyers and firms on India's terms and conditions, the paper says. It points out that foreign lawyers are less likely to be involved in domestic law in view of barriers such as qualification requirements which are "shaped along national lines". The paper has posed 15 issues before the Indian legal fraternity on various aspects of opening up of the legal services sectors to foreign legal firms and sought comments from it.

Among the issues raised by the consultation paper are priority concerns like preferences, subsidies, transparency, residency/citizenship requirements and bidding practices, whether it is imperative to create first a liberalised regime domestically for Indian lawyers and advocates before opening up the sector to foreign firms, countries that offer maximum potential for export of legal services, desirability or otherwise of partnership with foreign firms and the role of bar councils and the regulatory body in the home country of foreign lawyers.

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