Register of legal practices
Pursuant to section 61 of the Legal Profession Act of the Maldives (LPA), lawyers providing legal services as sole practitioners must so do via sole proprietorship registered under Law No. 19/2014 (Sole Proprietorship Act) and subsequently registered with the Bar Council. For the purposes of the LPA, these sole proprietorships are designated as “Legal Practices”.
Under 7.1 (b) of the Law Firm and Legal Practice Registration Rules Legal practices are required to pay the following fees.
- Registration Fee: MVR 1,000
- Annual Fee: MVR 1,000
The deadline for payment of annual fees is 31st March each year. Legal practices that do not pay the annual fees by the deadline will be removed from Legal practice Register of the Bar Council.
Register of law firms
In accordance with Section 62 of the Legal Profession Act of the Maldives (LPA), lawyers who intend to collectively provide legal services are required to do so through a partnership established under Partnership Act (Law No. 13/2011), which must be subsequently registered with the Bar Council.
Minimum Requirments for registration are listed below:
- 80% shares should be held by minimum two lawyers
Under 7.1 (b) of the Law Firm and Legal Practice Registration Rules, Law Firms are required to pay the following fees
- Registration Fee: MVR 2,000
- Annual Fee: MVR 2,000
The deadline for payment of annual fees is 31st March each year. Law Firms that do not pay the annual fees by the deadline will be removed from Law Firm Register of the Bar Council.
Apply to register a Law Firm:
List of Lawyers Providing Legal Services Template:
Apply to register a Legal Practice:
Payment Instructions
For the payment of the registration/annual fees, please follow the instructions below.
- Account Name: Bar Council of the Maldives
- Bank: Maldives Islamic Bank
- Account Number: 90101555000971000
Kindly read all the below instructions prior to making the payment:
- Fees must be made as one single payment; fee payment on an installment basis is not permitted.
- Only bank transfers and cash deposits will be accepted.
- If you are making the payment via cash deposit, kindly send us a clear scan of the deposit slip via e-mail.
- If the cash deposit is made through the ATM, please mention that the deposit has been made via ATM deposit.
- If you are making the payment via transfer, the transfer slip must bear your full name, national ID card number, legal practice/Law Firm name and registration number in the payment description.
- Kindly share the transfer slip/receipt via https://forms.gle/wo2WxSPCoBqJ3eFQ6.
- If your payment is made by a third party, the bank account name of the third party, legal practice/Law Fim name and registration number must be clearly mentioned in the return e-mail.
- Fee will be deemed to be received by the Bar Council of the Maldives only upon the verification from the Maldives Islamic Bank.
- Once the fee is received by the Bar Council of the Maldives, you will be issued with a payment receipt.
Notifying Errors in Law Firm / Legal Practice Register
If you have paid annual fee and your information is not listed on the Law Firm/Legal Practices Register, please let us know via the following form