12 July 2024, New Delhi: In a positive development for the in-house counsel community, Dr. Sanjeev Gemawat, Founder, General Counsels’ Association of India (GCAI) met with Sri Arjun Ram Meghwal, the Honourable Minister of Law and Justice, Government of India and shared a representation for seeking statutory recognition of general counsels and in-house counsels, as legal practitioners. The general counsels or in-house counsels are qualified lawyers employed by corporates for legal work but are not allowed to practice as ‘Advocates’ or to have the membership of the Bar Council till such employment.

Dr. Gemawat apprised the Honourable Minister that regulation and recognition of General Counsels, with over 5,00,000 practising law currently in India, is extremely important and requested for a positive consideration by the Government of India. GCAI’s representation to the Honourable Minister highlighted that the corporate sector, which is the backbone of India’s growth, is being looked after by trained legal practitioners, who are in employment with corporates. However, even though they deal with all facets of Indian laws, regulatory compliances, adjudication, arbitration and litigation, they are not recognised as “Advocates”, under Indian laws, thereby not being regulated by any professional code of conduct or a regulatory body.

Therefore, GCAI humbly suggested that there should be a suitable amendment to Indian laws, primarily the Advocates Act, 1961 and the Bar Council of India Rules, 1975, so that due regulation and recognition are provided to the legal services by General Counsels.

Sharing his views on this occasion,

Dr. Sanjeev Gemawat, Founder, GCAI said, “Since its foundation, the vision of GCAI has been to create a distinct professional identity for General Counsels and institutionalise the in–house legal function as a separate specialised stream of legal practice. Our meeting today with the Honourable Law Minister, Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal, is a big step towards making this vision a reality. It was heartening to see Shri Meghwal ji’s appreciation of the contribution of in-house counsels to the growth of the country’s economy and his commitment to India’s Viksit Bharat 2047 vision. He has assured us of a positive and fair consideration so that General Counsels can have the same rights as advocates do under the current law.”

GCAI is of the view that the amendments as proposed in its representation to the Honourable Minister are in line with recent progressive steps undertaken by the Bar Council of India including allowing foreign law firms and foreign lawyers to practice in India. Such change would not only restore the rights and status of the legal practitioners employed in corporate sector but would also integrate them with the legal eco-system and such a correction in the Rule(s) would not only benefit the corporate sector but also enhance the availability of legal services to society at large.

GCAI is grateful all its stakeholders for their invaluable support in this initiative, especially its Founders – Amar Kumar Sundram, Dr. Akhil Prasad, Dr. Sanjeev Gemawat, Lubinisha Saha, Manjaree Chowdhary, Neera Sharma, Raghu C.V., Shukla Wassan and Tejal Patil.