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Abstract
According to the latest research, India is mounting a serious challenge to China as the first choice for low-cost country sourcing. One advantage is that, due to India having so many disparate languages and dialects, English is the common language for the professions in India. All corporate and commercial legal and accountancy work is conducted in English, university legal training is conducted in English and so is the daily business of the Indian courts. A second advantage is that Indian lawyers can requalify as English solicitors more easily than, for example, Scottish lawyers. They need only pass the Law Society's examination in legal practice and accounting stage. So training up Indian lawyers to take on large-scale reviews of English-generated contracts is relatively straightforward. Many lawyers have already done just that. Others have postgraduate UK legal qualifications and all undergo customised training to familiarise themselves with what UK and European clients expect from their professional legal advisers. Specific training is also given on the areas of UK contract law on which legal teams there will be working on procurement, IT or distribution contracts. Additionally, clients often extend their internal training regimes to embrace Indian lawyers. The third advantage that India has over other contenders is the sophistication of its legal regime, a particular advantage over China.