Even as the industry has been reeling from the pandemic, a number of lawyers have left the comfort of established firms in order to set up their own businesses. The founders talk about what led them to make the move, and what the experience has been thus far.
WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO ESTABLISH A FIRM DURING A TIME THAT’S BEEN A TOUGH ONE FOR THE LEGAL INDUSTRY? WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR EXPERIENCE TO DATE?
Priya Rao, Priya Rao & Associates
I have spent most of my career working in top-tier Indian law firms. However, for the last few years, I have been brewing the desire to start my firm to test the learnings and experience accrued in my journey. Since I was a senior partner in the last firm, I was too caught up with client servicing and in the firm’s growth. With 2020 giving everyone a chance to reflect, I decided to get out of my comfort zone, and start the new chapter that I always wanted. I knew it was either now or never. Further, as everything in the industry is anyway slow, this gives me sufficient time to plan, prepare, organise, and build the needed resource for a law firm of international standards. My experience till date has been extremely exciting, encouraging, and overwhelming. I have had great support from my clients, my professional colleagues, friends, and family. I have been joined by four colleagues from my earlier firms: Two in trademarks, one in patents and one in litigation. I am now working on further growing my patents team.
Bharath MS, KRIA Law
KRIA Law was founded on Mar. 6, at a time when the whole world, especially clients and colleagues, had experienced digitisation of courts, tribunals and internal teams. The clients – either individuals or small enterprises or large multinationals – now seek top-quality services from experienced and approachable counsel at affordable rates. KRIA Law is the perfect fit, being fully digital on Cloud using MS 365, One Drive and a secure state-of-the-art law firm management software. The On-Cloud software tracks and manages court proceedings, deadlines, timesheets, watch services, automated reporting, and invoicing. This enables access to work from anywhere, giving much needed additional productive work hours to lawyers and paralegals. In the last four weeks, KRIA Law is delighted to have brought on board a team of four staff members and five lawyers with more than 120 years of cumulative practice experience, and serviced more than 50 satisfied clients, most of whom we have not met in person.
Tushar Ajinkya, ThinkLaw
What better time to launch a law firm than during a pandemic? Extensive interactions through virtual platforms for client service are now mainstay. This has acutely shifted focus from firms to individuals who perform and can directly be assessed by clients. In a virtual meeting room, the pedigree of the firm or the size of the office matters little. What matters is pure legal craft and skilled negotiation before an audience of clients, lawyers, judges and arbitrators. Clients have been quick to recognise this.
Having spent more than two decades in large firms, the time was opportune to establish an institution of driven professionals providing high-quality thought-through legal services. ThinkLaw’s core values are the pursuit of excellence in client delivery, where culturally aligned professionals are recognised only based on their professional skills and integrity.
We have a deep sense of gratitude towards our clients for reaffirming their faith in us and continuing the long relationships we have established with them.
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