A line-up of top UK law firms including Clifford Chance (CC), Linklaters and Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) are set to appear before the Supreme Court of India next week, in the latest round of the long-running battle to open up the country's legal market to foreign lawyers.

The Bar Council of India (BCI) argued this week before the nation's top court, appealing a 2012 decision that saw the Supreme Court reaffirm a lower court decision to allow foreign lawyers to visit India on a 'fly-in, fly-out' basis and give advice on non-Indian law matters.

Next week, firms including CC, Linklaters, HSF, Norton Rose Fulbright, Ashurst, Clyde & Co, Eversheds Sutherland and Bird & Bird will appear before the court to put forward their case.

The case of Bar Council of India v AK Balaji & Ors has been a major roadblock to progress in the push for liberalisation of the Indian legal market. The BCI has insisted that discussion about the forms in which foreign law firms can operate in the country must wait until the case is decided.

The Indian Government has reportedly been planning to allow foreign firms to set up in the country's Special Economic Zones, where they will be permitted to give non-Indian law advice.

The BCI's main objection against the AK Balaji decision, initially issued by the Madras High Court in Chennai, was that the court allowed foreign lawyers to handle international commercial arbitration work, as well as advising on matters in which Indian lawyers may not have expertise.

The BCI considered both activities as the "practice of the profession of law", and should be regulated under its rules and the country's Advocates Act 1961.

The origin of the case dates back more than two decades, when foreign firms such as White & Case and Ashurst were licensed to have offices in India.

In 1995, a Mumbai-based professional organisation called Lawyers Collective challenged the foreign firms' Indian offices before the Bombay High Court. The court decided against the foreign firms, citing the 1961 law which prohibited non-Indian citizens from being admitted to practice in the country.

The foreign firms appealed the decision the next year to the Supreme Court, which sent the case back to the Bombay court. Thirteen years later, in late 2009, the Bombay High Court reaffirmed that foreign law firm offices were unlawful.

However, the 2009 decision did not address the issue of foreign lawyers practising foreign law in India without a physical office.

In 2010, a lawyer named AK Balaji filed a lawsuit challenging some 30 foreign firms – including the magic circle and US firm Davis Polk & Wardwell – over their right to practise any law in India.

In 2012, the Madras High Court ruled in favour of the 'fly-in, fly-out' arrangement for foreign lawyers to visit clients in India. The Supreme Court affirmed the decision, which the Bar Council of India soon appealed. The proceedings had stalled until this week's hearing.

Meanwhile, while the AK Balaji decision was being challenged by the Bar Council, another organisation called the Global Indian Lawyers Association filed a petition in 2015 to challenge the 2009 Bombay court decision, calling for the liberalisation of the market. This case is now pending before the Supreme Court.