On September 23, a two-day International Lawyers Conference 2023 will commence at Vigyan Bhavan, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the inauguration speaker. The Bar Council of India (BCI) is organizing the event, and Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud will also attend as the chief guest, along with Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice of the United Kingdom Alex Chalk KC as the guests of honour. BCI chairman and senior advocate Manan Kumar Mishra announced during a press conference on Wednesday that the prime minister will inaugurate the ceremony. The valedictory ceremony on September 24 will feature Union Home Minister Amit Shah as the chief guest.
During the two-day conference, Mishra plans to discuss various issues, such as the BCI’s regulations for foreign lawyers and offshore law firms. These discussions will take place with representatives from foreign law firms after the conference’s valedictory session. Mishra believes that the conference will be beneficial for the legal community and law students. The valedictory ceremony will be attended by Union Minister Bhupender Yadav and three apex court judges: Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Justice Sanjeev Khanna, and Justice P S Narasimha. The inaugural ceremony on Saturday will be attended by Attorney General R Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.
According to the BCI, the conference will include 10 technical sessions covering various topics, such as “Artificial Intelligence: Transforming the Legal Landscape,” “Intellectual Property Rights in a Borderless World,” and “Legal experts and judges will attend sessions on the changing landscape of criminal law, including those from the apex court. The BCI will also present the BCI Vidhi Ratna Awards 2023 for the first time during the valedictory sessions. This award will go to esteemed legal luminaries, including K Parasaran, Fali S Nariman, and K K Venugopal. Ram Jethmalani and Soli J. Sorabjee will be posthumously honoured as well.
BCI Chairman Mishra stated that in March of this year, the BCI established regulations for foreign lawyers’ entry and regulation. In June, the BCI had talks with the Bar Council of England and Wales, the Law Society of England and Wales, and representatives of many multinational law firms in London. They expressed a strong interest in foreign lawyers and law firms’ entry and regulation in India. In March of this year, the BCI allowed foreign lawyers and law firms to practice in areas such as foreign law, international legal issues, and arbitration matters. The BCI believed that if they ignored the matter, the legal fraternity in India would fall behind. The decision to notify the Bar Council of India Rules for Registration and Regulation of Foreign Lawyers and Foreign Law Firms in India, 2022, received mixed reactions from bar leaders and eminent lawyers.
Written by B. Krishna nikhitha of KL University Vijayawada Andhra Pradesh ( 5th semester )an intern under Legal Vidhiya
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