New Delhi, 27 July 2026: The Federation of Indian Corporate Lawyers (“FICL”), a non-profit body representing India’s in-house corporate legal community, has submitted a formal representation to the Bar Council of India (“BCI”) on the Draft Advocates (Amendment) Bill, 2026 (“Amendment Bill 2026”), calling for statutory recognition of General Counsels and in-house counsel practising in the private, public and joint sectors.
The representation, dated 26 July 2026 and addressed to the Chairman, BCI, was filed within the stakeholder consultation window announced by the BCI on 18 July 2026, ahead of the 31 July 2026 deadline.
A Definition That Leaves Out Most of the Profession
FICL has welcomed the Amendment Bill’s proposal to grant statutory recognition to Indian law firms and its emphasis on emerging areas of legal practice. However, it has flagged a significant gap in the Bill’s proposed definition of “legal practitioner” under clause (i) of Section 2, which currently covers only advocates appearing before courts, tribunals and quasi-judicial bodies, and law graduates employed by government or government organisations.
This leaves General Counsels, in-house counsel and corporate legal teams in the private, public and joint sectors, who together constitute one of the largest segments of India’s practising legal professionals, without any statutory recognition at all.
FICL’s Proposed Amendments
FICL has proposed two alternative routes for the BCI’s consideration:
● Extending the definition of “legal practitioner” to expressly include law graduates employed by private sector, public sector and joint sector organisations, corporate entities, statutory bodies, autonomous bodies and limited liability partnerships incorporated or established in India; or
● Inserting a proviso that recognises General Counsels and in-house counsel as legal practitioners, while restricting their right of appearance before courts, tribunals or quasi-judicial bodies to matters concerning, and on behalf of, their own employer.
FICL has grounded its case in empirical findings from the CTIL Report on Reforms in the Non-Litigious Services Sector, which records that over 47% of General Counsels of Indian corporates report directly to the Chief Executive Officer, and 75% are expected by their organisations to influence board decisions — a level of legal and governance responsibility, FICL argues, that sits uneasily with a framework that does not recognise them as legal practitioners at all.
Privilege Gap Flagged After Supreme Court Ruling
The representation also draws attention to the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in 2025 INSC 1275, which confined professional-communication privilege under Sections 132 and 134 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 to advocates practising in courts. FICL has recommended that the BCI take up, with the Ministry of Law and Justice, a consequential alignment of these provisions so that legal practitioners recognised under the amended Advocates Act, 1961 — including in-house counsel — are expressly covered by professional-communication privilege.
FICL has further recommended amendments to Rules 43 and 49, Chapter II, Part VI of the BCI Rules, to clarify that an advocate does not cease to be professionally recognised solely by reason of full-time salaried employment, where the advocate’s principal duties consist of bona fide legal practice for the employer.
Not a Zero-Sum Proposition
FICL has been clear that its representation does not seek recognition for in-house counsel at the expense of the statutory recognition proposed for Indian law firms, which it supports without reservation. The Federation has described strong external law firms and strong in-house legal functions as complementary rather than competing, and has urged the BCI to recognise both within a single, coherent regulatory framework as India works towards the Viksit Bharat @2047 goal.
About FICL
The Federation of Indian Corporate Lawyers (FICL) is a non-profit company representing India’s in-house corporate legal community. FICL is a member of In-House Counsel Worldwide and the Asia Pacific Corporate Counsel Alliance (APCCA).
Signatories to the Representation
The representation to the Bar Council of India was signed on behalf of FICL by:
● Dr SB Mitra, Hon. President, FICL
● Rohan Sharma, FCIArb, Director, FICL
● Manmeet Kaur, Director, FICL
● RS Sachdeva, National Advisory Council, FICL
● MM Sharma, National Advisory Council, FICL
View FICL's Representation to Bar Council of India.
