Published on : 14 Nov 2025, 1:43 pm 3 min read

Many have written about the 2025 amendments to the Bar Council of India (BCI) Rules for the Registration and Regulation of Foreign Lawyers and Foreign Law Firms and I want to consider them further. Why? Because they are a real-life example of the law of unintended consequences: they severely curtail the ability of global companies to do business in India.

So, what was the BCI's action? It adopted the Rules believing that it was “opening up the legal profession in India to foreign lawyers...[so as to] meaningfully contribute to the growth of the legal domain in India, ultimately benefiting Indian lawyers as well.”

To the mind of the BCI, it was addressing “concerns about encouraging Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in India.” What

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