Alright so what’s up with the world of law! Law updates on CG’s News and Misc. section are not the usual general knowledge updates that Aymen and others so assiduously put up for you. This is about what is happening in the legal world that you don’t really hear about in mainstream papers or which is entirely to give you the ‘thoda hadtke’ goings on of the legal world.
As I have mentioned before this is the fun news that you need not mug up for CLAT 2011 but this is just to quench you thirst about your chosen profession and give you news which is making headlines in the profession.
Mainly things that you are told you need not know because you are aspirants. I always felt that only drab and boring things for preparation do not really excite your passion for law. So here we go.
Legal Sports News:
The T20 SILF (Society of Indian Law Firms) Cup is going on in Delhi and this currently is the most important thing on the minds of lawyers: not how much their deals are worth but how much is up on the score board. AZB & Partners, Saikrishna & Associates, Amarchand Mangaldas, Anand & Anand and Kochhar & Co have joined Titus & Co, Luthra & Luthra and Dua Associates as quarter-finalists of the TURF Twenty20 cricket tournament.
Apparently the lawyers are taking this very seriously and this is no ‘exhibition tournament’ but a real clash of titans each firm trying hard to edge out the other.
Supreme Court takes commission:
The landmark Vodafone tax judgement by the Bombay HC was challenged by the said company in the apex court. Now as a prerequisite to hearing this case the SC has demanded 1% commission on the Government’s withdrawal of the Rs. 2500 crore earlier deposited by the company.
The Supreme Court in consonance with entry 26, part III of the third schedule of the Supreme Court Rules 1966 asked the Director General of Income Tax.
All India Bar Exam: Controversy and Confusion
The AIBE is the nightmare for all 2010 law grads who are yet to officially practise since they have not cleared the AIBE which has been seeing a postponement of dates. Finally the Bar Council’s petition to club all the writs challenging the AIBE has been approved by the SC and the apex court is slated to hear the case. The latest announcement is that the date is going to be 6th March and till then the grads will be allowed to provisionally practice.
Indian law firms to convert to LLP?
Most foreign law firms have the letters ‘LLP’ affixed to their names: Herbert Smith LLP, SJ Berwin LLP, Linklaters LLP.
Ever wondered what it stands for? Well LLP is Limited Liability Partnership. Usually in a partnership form of business the partners have unlimited liability in the concern. Thus if the assets of the partnership firm are not enough to satisfy the creditors then the personal assets of the partners too maybe attached. However, a company is a separate legal entity from its member shareholders and their liability is limited only to the amount of unpaid capital on the face value of the shares that they hold.
LLP is a mix of the two where there is a partnership form of organisation with designate partners and they have limited liability.
This is seen as ideal for law firms and a host of other businesses. The LLP Act in India came into being in 2008 and the LLP Rules are in vogue from 2009. Hence LLP is a fairly new concept in India. It is likely that Indian law firms too may convert to LLP form after a consultation with DIPP (Department of Investment Policy Promotion) and if the hitches are clarified by the Bar Council of India.
We may soon hear of Trilegal LLP and Amarchand Mangadas Suresh A Shroff &Co. LLP.
Cheers!
Sandipan De
Wow.
Reading this really makes me realise how much there is to know in the world. Thanks, it’s interesting
Definitely a breath of fresh air from the usual stuff in the news. A defiance of the preconceived notion that legal news gets drab after a point, no offense. Thanks. Please post more. 🙂
Well some people actually asked me to keep off this kind of news and stuff because they say law school aspirants don’t need to know all that for their entrances. I say, that exactly is the point. Give them a new side to the profession they are about to or passionately aspire to enter. It’s not all that boring you know!!!
@sandipan: Agreed. In the rat race for entrances, we truly mustn’t lose out on the bigger picture of WHY we want to be lawyers in the first place.