The Indian legal sector is undergoing a transformational phase, with an increasing number of smaller law firms now offering quality legal services. Boasting a personalized approach and innovative strategies, these firms are going toe-to-toe with much larger rivals, and winning clients in the process. In its annual list, ALB spotlights 25 such successful firms that are set for even bigger things. The list is in alphabetical order and some firms have been profiled. Managing partner photos appear alongside the profiles.
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ANHAD LAW
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Anhad Law, founded in 2021, is a leading full-service/multi-disciplinary law firm based in New Delhi and Noida. The firm provides legal services including litigation, alternative dispute resolution, corporate, labour and employment, real estate, government relation and direct taxes. Unlike conventional corporate firms, Anhad Law has a dedicated team that handles white-collar crime matters especially involving socio-economic offences of misappropriation and embezzlement of funds, money laundering and corruption, extradition of fugitive criminals and more. The firm has the benefit of having a senior counsel with more than forty years of standing at the bar as a criminal defence attorney. Anhad Law has private wealth as another key practice area, where the firm has witnessed a multi-fold increase in wealth and family-related disputes. The firm, which recently celebrated its first anniversary, now has a total of 16 fee-earners. The firm’s current clients include large Indian corporations, multinational corporations and subsidiaries, joint venture companies, and branch/liaison offices of MNCs. Among the diverse cases advised by the firm, Anhad Law has assisted a Spanish company in its exit from a joint venture in India involving rounds of negotiations over the relevant share-purchase agreement, escrow agreement and other related documents. The firm has also recently assisted a Japanese company on its potential Series B round funding in a healthtech start-up in India. On its future strategy, Anhad Law says: “While we continue to strengthen our relationships with existing clients/law firms, our focus would remain to continue to partner with clients who value well researched and good quality legal advice of business lawyers and believe in a value-driven approach”. |
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JOYCELAW
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Established in 2018, JoyceLaw is a boutique corporate law firm with a special focus on the Indian startup ecosystem. The firm saw a significant growth in the volume of work including high-value investment transactions in the past 12 months, which contributed to the expansion of its corporate advisory practice from four to seven fee earners, almost double the headcount. The firm has advised on a number of large and complex transactions with sophisticated counterparties who were advised by top-tier Indian and international law firms. Notably, JoyceLaw acted for their repeat client, the hyper growth early stage fintech company Uni Cards, in its recent $70 million jumbo Series A round (amongst the largest Series A rounds in the Indian market) with participation from multiple new investors and existing investors. The firm also represented the category leader in the hyperlocal commerce discovery space, magicpin, in its $60 million Series D round, which was completed at a blistering pace, despite complexities owing to the need to satisfactorily balance the interests of multiple existing investors and the incoming investor. The firm has taken pride in its model of developing deep relationships with clients and becoming “thought partners” and trusted advisors for their businesses. Associates Rohit Abraham and Chirag Mangal, and of counsel Mohit Aggarwal have been recognized as an integral part of its growth story. “We foresee us continuing to be amongst the most active law firms representing the company side private company capital raise transactions in India. Additionally, the capital deployed this year will propel a lot of out-of-the-box strategic initiatives by Indian companies. This is likely to become another important source of demand for us,” JoyceLaw says. |
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LEXORBIS
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LexOrbis is a comprehensive intellectual property law firm based at three strategic locations of Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, offering a full portfolio of intellectual property services in India and abroad since 1997. The firm has strengthened its team and added 25 patent and trademark attorneys over the last 12 months. LexOrbis has been actively advising clients on protecting and enforcing their intellectual property rights at all levels, including acting for its long-standing client Ericsson in obtaining more than 600 patents since 2019; filing a patent application for an important invention related to co-crystals of Punjab University and Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, and successfully obtaining a favourable order for grant; representing S3G Technology in a patent-infringe-ment suit that also involves an issue of fraud against the defendants; and filing a civil commercial suit for injunction on behalf of South India Krishna Oil and Fats Private for infringement and passing off. Apart from the traditional performance indicators, the firm prides itself on incorporating technology tools to enhance growth, productivity and quality of work products. The entire functioning of its offices at three locations is now facilitated by the pioneer IP software docket management system Dennemeyer. The firm is aiming to expand its presence by opening offices in Chennai and other cities. The team operates under the guidance of Manisha Singh and Abhai Pandey and is ably supported by partners Rajeev Kumar, Amaya Singh, Omesh Puri and Joginder Singh. “We conduct in-depth analysis of the strategies we have used and on the basis of the success rate, we decide the way forward. Innovative measures are also employed,” LexOrbis says. “Through commitment, cooperation and a direct flow of communication throughout the firm, we have been able to enjoy the ongoing growth.” |
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UKCA AND PARTNERS
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UKCA and Partners, based in New Delhi and established in 1986, has been eminent in providing legal advisory, transactional and advocacy services to its clients in diverse sectors and subjects. Its practice ranges from commercial litigation, insolvency and restructuring, and M&A, to negotiations along with a whole range of legal services. Among the major cases handled for its clients in the past 12 months, UKCA has acted in a hotly contested litigation before NCLT on the Emaar-MGF dispute arising from the demerger of a joint venture undertaking with an estimated value of $373 Million (in the demerger scheme) and $320 Million (only in the oppression and mismanagement). UKCA also advised on the acquisition of LabourNet Services that involved complex issues of selling of stake, dealing with covenants in pre-existing agreements, assignment of loans, dealing with the issues related to securities of the target entity and various related matters, in which the firm created a step-by-step guide note to protect its client by eliminating the impediments and liabilities that the client might incur in the present and in the future. According to the firm, their team size has increased by 25 percent over the last 12 months. The firm’s revenue and retained profits have constantly increased over the past five years. The numbers went up even during the year 2020. Also, the firm became an LLP this year to help structure for better management and revenue generation. “The firm will continue to focus on what we do best, provide quality and specialized service to our clients at affordable rates,” says UKCA. “We are also serious about continued learning through education and keep ourselves abreast with the ongoing updates and learnings in the industry. The firm’s aim is to increase our transactional and dispute resolution practice.” |
THE LIST
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ALB INDIA FIRMS TO WATCH 2022 |
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Alaya Legal Anhad Law ANM Global Fidus Law Chambers GSL Chambers Inttl Advocare InventIP Legal Services JoyceLaw Kan and Krishme LexOrbis Mansukhlal Hiralal & Company Mason & Associates NDB Law NovoJuris Legal |
Numen Law Offices Obhan & Associates Phoenix Legal Sagar Chandra & Associates Startup Lawyers & Partners (SLP) Stratage Law Partners Sujata Chaudhri IP Attorneys Tandon & Co Tag & Bench Associates UKCA and Partners Vedanta Legal |