BCI'S DRAFT ADVOCATES (AMENDMENT) BILL 2026: FIRST STATUTORY RECOGNITION OF LAW FIRMS AND TIGHT RESTRICTIONS ON FOREIGN LAWYERS:

The Bar Council of India has released the Draft Advocates (Amendment) Bill, 2026, for public consultation, seeking inputs from State Bar Councils, Bar Associations, law universities, and legal practitioners by 31 July 2026. In the revised draft, the Council has dropped several proposals that featured in the earlier 2025 version. Provisions imposing severe penalties for advocate strikes have been removed, along with clauses prescribing heavy fines of up to five lakh rupees for disciplinary infractions. Proposals that would have allowed government nominees on Bar Councils have also been eliminated, reflecting an intent to protect the autonomy of the organised bar.

A dedicated chapter has been inserted into the Advocates Act, 1961, granting express statutory recognition and requiring mandatory registration for law firms operating as partnerships, limited liability partnerships, or incorporated entities. Firms functioning across multiple states must register both with the Bar Council of India and the relevant State Bar Councils. The framework is designed to encourage advocates practising in tier-2, tier-3, and district-level courts to formalise their practices into registered entities. The Bar Council of India has stated that it seeks to strengthen Indian law firms and to motivate advocates at the state, district, and taluka levels to form and register such firms. Until now, it has observed that only advocates based in large metropolitan cities have been forming law firms, LLPs, or companies. The Council aims to make smaller law firms stronger, describing the measure as a major profession-building reform. For the first time, Indian law firms would receive express recognition under the Advocates Act as institutions through which advocates practise collectively.

The draft also codifies specific restrictions and regulatory guidelines for foreign lawyers and law firms within the Advocates Act. Foreign practitioners remain strictly barred from appearing before Indian courts, tribunals, or statutory authorities. However, the Bar Council of India is empowered to register, suspend, or regulate foreign entities that practise non-Indian law or participate in international commercial arbitrations on a regulated “fly-in and fly-out” basis. The right to enrol and practise as an advocate in India is explicitly restricted to Indian citizens. The Council has emphasised that it will not take any step that could hamper or adversely affect the interests of Indian law firms. The doors of India would be opened to foreign law firms only in a phased manner suited to Indian firms. A committee of reputed Indian law firms, headed by Mr Cyril Shroff, Managing Partner of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, has submitted its report, which the Bar Council of India will consider. The interests of Indian lawyers and law firms remain of paramount importance. Foreign lawyers and firms will not be permitted to practise Indian law or appear in any Indian court, tribunal, or forum, except as arbitrators in foreign matters.

To ensure equitable gender representation, the draft proposes a mandatory quota for women in State Bar Councils. For larger councils with electorates exceeding 10,000 members, the total strength is expanded to 33 members, comprising 30 elected members including four women, plus three additional women advocates co-opted by the Bar Council of India in consultation with the concerned State Bar Councils and Bar Associations. For councils with electorates between 5,000 and 10,000, the strength is set at 21 members, with 19 elected including three women and two co-opted women advocates. A mechanism for co-opting representatives has also been introduced to address geographic disparities and ensure advocates from remote districts and taluka bars gain fair representation.

The draft further proposes a 25-member committee with representation from the Bar Council of India, former Supreme Court judges, sitting or former Chief Justices of High Courts, the Attorney General for India, the Solicitor General of India, advocates of standing, the University Grants Commission, the Department of Legal Affairs, leading vice-chancellors, and distinguished professors and deans.

In addition, the proposed legislation establishes a statutory framework empowering the Bar Council of India and State Bar Councils to create dedicated welfare funds and trusts. These funds are designated to provide pensions, health insurance, emergency medical relief, stipends for junior lawyers, and structured financial support for indigent advocates, practitioners with disabilities, and dependents of deceased lawyers. The framework expressly enables the creation of funds and trusts for financial assistance to deserving advocates, insurance, pension, medical relief, social security schemes, support for indigent advocates and those with disabilities, assistance to dependents of advocates, professional development programmes, and law libraries.

The Bar Council of India has revised the statutory enrolment fee structure to 18,000 rupees payable to State Bar Councils and 4,500 rupees payable to the apex body. To promote accessibility, the bill introduces a 75 per cent fee concession, requiring candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and persons with benchmark disabilities to pay only one-fourth of the standard prescribed enrolment fee.