The 10 Most Recommended Corporate and Commercial Law Solution Providers

The large part of Indian legal professionals comprises of litigators practicing in lower courts across Country which
constitute around 80% percent or more of litigators. Over a period of time, there is steady migration of litigators from
lower Courts to District Court to High Court and some make it to Supreme Court. Thus, litigation practice is the
backbone of the legal profession in India.
The other areas of practice are boutique, small, medium and large firms providing specialised or full services to clients.
Boutique firms are a recent trend. Many boutique firms are set up by former partners of large firms catering to specialised
practice areas or sectors having expertise in these areas. Thus, clients are also benefited by the availability of domain
experts at a reasonable fee and service teams led by partners and not mid-level attorneys, as is the practice in some larger
firms.
Similarly, small firms are also being set up by attorneys having few of years of experience to enjoy independent practice,
carve out a name for them and serve the community. At times few partners with teams from large or mid-size firms split
and set up firms which grow over a period of time. Yet large full services law firms have not lost out their charm, which
corners a big chunk of work in every practice area they have.
Corporate practice including merger and acquisition are the mainstay of large firms, which also has teams in other
practice areas like dispute resolution, white-collar crimes, intellectual property, taxation, etc. However, most of young
attorneys’ dream of working as corporate lawyers and work on big transactions or some of them go for litigation practice.
While big full services law firms have no competition in corporate practice, these firms don’t have much to offer in
taxation and valuation of deals arena in front of Big4 accounting firms.
India is big on the global map as a land of opportunities to set up a manufacturing base here, which has the dual
advantage of the availability of a talented pool of professionals and large population driving consumption. In addition,
the Government of India is promoting India with various initiatives to make India as a manufacturing hub like Make in
India, Ease of Doing Business and pan India roll out of Goods and Service Tax creating a unified market. These
initiatives have also created demand for quality legal services in the Country.
In this wave of globalisation, Indian legal industry has a high potential of growth. However, India has protected and
reserved legal market barring entry of International Law Firms in India and denying foreign law firms or foreign lawyers
practice law in the Country. Even fly-in to provide service and fly-out attorneys are not welcome.
While foreign law firms are not interested in doing litigation practices in lower or superior courts, they are definitely
interested in the more lucrative market of corporate practice, arbitration, and other specialised services. On the other
hand, a large population of legal professionals opposes entry of foreign law firms in India on the fear of being driven out
of practice or losing big clients.
Entry of foreign law firms in India has its own advantages and disadvantages. While foreign law firms bring in best
practices and international expertise they would also heat up the Indian market with a high cost of legal services. On the
other hand, existing Indian large and medium law firms will be benefited by getting better realisation per hour of billable
rates. Of course, the fear of Indian firms of losing good and talented professionals to foreign law firms who have deep
pockets is also well-founded.
Having said that there are no sides that one can take. We would refrain from expressing our personal views on the issue.
It shall be the Bar Council of India which is the regulatory body of the legal profession to tackle this big question on
whether or when these foreign law firms will be allowed entry into the legal profession in India.
40 MAY 2019