The Bar Council of India’s Draft Advocates (Amendment) Bill, 2026 proposes women’s quotas in bar councils, welfare funds for lawyers and curbs on foreign law firms.
The Bar Council of India (BCI) unveiled a Draft Advocates (Amendment) Bill, 2026, proposing a wide-ranging overhaul of the law that governs the legal profession, with statutory quotas for women in the bar’s elected bodies and a strengthened social-security net for lawyers at its core.
A circular issued to the legal fraternity under the signature of BCI Chairman and Senior Advocate Manan Kumar Mishra described the exercise as a “profession-first” reform aimed at safeguarding Indian advocates, consolidating the organised bar and opening fresh avenues for practitioners.
Dated July 18, the circular invited suggestions from stakeholders until 3 pm on July 31, and characterised the draft as among the most far-reaching attempts to update the statutory architecture of the profession since the Advocates Act was first enacted in 1961.
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The proposal must be read against the backdrop of the Advocates Act, 1961, the parent legislation that created the Bar Council of India and the State Bar Councils, prescribed the standards of professional conduct for advocates, and set out the framework for enrolment, discipline and regulation of the profession. Successive attempts to modernise that six-decade-old statute have proved contentious.
The immediate precursor to the present exercise was a 2025 version of the amendment bill, which had drawn sharp resistance from lawyers across the country.
That earlier draft had proposed stringent penalties for advocates who participated in strikes or boycotts of court work, a fine of Rs.5 lakh in connection with disciplinary proceedings, and the induction of government nominees into the Bar Councils provisions that the bar viewed as an encroachment on the autonomy and independence of the profession.
In the face of that opposition, the BCI has now dropped each of these clauses from the 2026 draft, a retreat evidently intended to allay concerns about executive interference in the functioning of the bar.
At the heart of the new draft is a marked expansion of women’s presence in the State Bar Councils. For councils whose electorate exceeds 10,000, the total strength is proposed to be raised to 33 members. Of these, four seats would be reserved for women elected to the council, with a further three women advocates to be co-opted in consultation with bar associations. The draft also introduces a co-option mechanism designed to secure representation for geographically underserved regions that frequently go unrepresented in State Bar Council elections.
The draft envisages the creation of dedicated funds and trusts to underwrite the welfare of the profession. These would extend financial assistance to deserving advocates, along with pensions, insurance cover, medical relief, and support for indigent lawyers and those with disabilities. It further contemplates stipends for young entrants to the profession and assistance for the dependents of advocates who have died.
On enrolment, the draft prescribes a revised fee structure under which a new advocate would pay ₹18,000 to the State Bar Council and Rs.4,500 to the BCI. A substantial concession has been carved out for candidates belonging to the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and persons with benchmark disabilities, who would be liable to pay only a fourth of the prescribed amount.
For the first time, Indian law firms would receive express recognition under the Advocates Act, a step aimed at bolstering smaller firms at the district and taluka levels and encouraging them to organise themselves as limited liability partnerships or companies. The draft also seeks to place professional development on a statutory footing, proposing structured training in emerging areas such as artificial intelligence, technology, cyber law, digital evidence and international legal practice.
Consistent with the BCI’s long-held stance, the draft reaffirms the protection of domestic practitioners from foreign competition. It stipulates that foreign lawyers and law firms shall not be entitled to appear before any court, tribunal or statutory authority in India, confining their engagement to international commercial arbitration involving foreign law and that too, subject to reciprocity and the prior approval of the central government.
The draft additionally proposes to delete the proviso that permitted foreign nationals to enrol as advocates in India, thereby anchoring the right to practise firmly in Indian citizenship.
The council has clarified that these proposals will attain the force of law only upon completion of the legislative process in Parliament.
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