A Reduction of Barriers to Competition for Foreign Lawyers in India: Can the Reduction Mean US/UK Law Firms Will Open Up Offices in India?

Posted by D. Daniel Sokol

For those who have followed FTC work on anti-competitive conduct by various business associations in the US (medical professionals, real estate professionals, etc.), I read an interesting piece on the WSJ Blog that suggests that the high barriers to entry for foreign firms opening up law offices in India may fall soon.  This means that international law firms might set up offices in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and elsewhere.  If so, this would create a number of new antitrust specialists among lawyers and by extension economists (who wiould be brought in for important situations to provide expert work) that will help increase the level of specialization of antitrust in India.  Hopefully this will also mean more classes in competition law and IO economics in Indian universities to handle the increased demand.