The Bar Council of India is set to visit the UK later this month, as the longstanding talks about opening up the country's legal market to foreign law firms continue.

The news comes as it emerges that a crucial court case, scheduled to take place at the end of last month, has been pushed back until the summer.

The case, now due to be heard in July, was initially brought against Ashurst, White & Case and Chadbourne & Parke in 1995, when the firms set up liaison offices in India. The hearing, now set for 16 July, will determine whether the Advocates Act means foreign law firms are prevented from practising Indian law in the country or from practising in the country at all. Whatever the outcome, it is likely that the case will be appealed.

The Law Society of England and Wales has been courting both the Indian Government and Bar Council ever since the case was launched. Ashurst still operates a liaison office in the country – under the responsibility of London-based senior consultant and retired corporate partner Ian Scott Nbut does not practise law from the office.

Scott was part of last month's Law Society delegation to India, alongside the Lord Mayor, David Lewis, the Law Society's head of international affairs, Alison Hook, and lawyers from Allen & Overy, Bird & Bird, Eversheds and Norton Rose. The trip saw the Tata Group and ICICI Bank both stressing that liberalisation is vital if the legal needs of Indian corporates are to be met. This week Hook was set to return to India with justice minister Bridget Prentice for further meetings with the Indian Bar Council and law minister Hansraj Bharadwaj.

Hook told Legal Week: "The trips are part of communicating why they would have nothing to fear from liberalisation." Gauri Advani, head of Eversheds' India business group, said: "There is a need for multijurisdictional advice that Indian law firms cannot provide."