As companies look to cope with a sluggish economy, one of the ways they are cutting legal costs is by moving away from bigger firms and turning instead to smaller, nimbler outfits. Luckily, India has seen the rise of some quality smaller outfits that are punching well above their weight in terms of work handled and services delivered. This inaugural list features 10 of the best.
Beruar & Beruar
Year established: 2018
Office locations: New Delhi, Mumbai, Ranchi
Number of partners: 4
IP boutique Beruar & Beruar was established in New Delhi in January last year with two partners and four associates; since then, it has added two more partners, and offices in Mumbai and Ranchi. The fee-earner count currently stands at 11. The firm already has a wide client base in industries such as education and publishing, media and entertainment, automotive and auto components, leisure, travel and hospitality, pharmaceuticals, energy & power generation, agriculture, manufacturing, fashion and luxury goods and biotechnology. Among key team members, the firm names co-founder Nidhi Jain, a seasoned litigator with over 13 years of experience in civil and commercial litigation as well as arbitration, who “has seamlessly laid the foundation of our dispute resolution practice, representing clients in varied contentious matters before various for a throughout the country.” The firm says it is working on expanding scope of services offered.
“We aim to grow our design and patent vertical, bringing it to the same footing as the other verticals and are in the process of acquiring experienced attorneys in this field. Additionally, with the rapid development of data protection framework in India, the firm further plans to build an extensive privacy law and data protection practice,” says Beruar & Beruar.
C&C Advisors
Year established: 2017
Office location: Mumbai
Number of partners: 2
C&C Advisors specializes in environment, energy and resources law, probably the first practice of its kind in India, and a rarity even globally. The firm advises NGOs, companies, international funding agencies, governments and universities on matters including water, biodiversity, renewable energy and clean-tech, oceans conservation and regulation of global value chains. It also aims to act as a bridge between the government and the private sector, as well as between Europe and India on specific deals. Started in May 2017 by Ipshita Chaturvedi with the aim of focusing on sustainable development and helping entities mainstream environmentally sound laws and business behaviour, the firm has hired three consultants in the last year for its biodiversity, oceans and pharma supply chain projects. And client interest is also picking up; since December 2018, C&C landed two more retainerships and is now plugging into much bigger projects.
“My vision for C&C is to develop an India-specific environment and clean energy legal practice that encompasses all aspects of the sector, so that future lawyers who want to work in conservation and sustainability can do so while getting paid a decent salary and without having to choose between a career in advocacy and litigation or commercial law,” says Chaturvedi.
Clasis Law
Year established: 2010
Office locations: New Delhi, Mumbai
Number of partners: 4
Known for a number of years as Clyde & Co’s Indian “best friend,” Clasis Law’s formal relationship with the UK firm ended in 2018, and it presently has four partners, led by managing partner Vineet Aneja. In the past year, the firm has hired eight lawyers across its Delhi and Mumbai offices, but Clasis is also expanding in different ways: It recently started a start-up and emerging company practice with the intention of having a one-stop shop to assist start-ups in ensuring that their business is undertaken in a legally compliant manner and that they are investment ready. Clasis has also developed a focus on data privacy laws in light of the EU GDPR and the proposed Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018.
“We have a dedicated team analysing foreign legislations, as applicable to Indian businesses and the upcoming bill on the subject to develop expertise in this practice area,” says Clasis. Finally, it is looking to expand its handling of white-collar crimes, including advising clients on compliance issues, ring fencing under the anti-corruption laws and handling matters of employee misconduct, terminations and litigation involving corporate corruption. White-collar crimes and data privacy will continue to be a key focus in the next 12 months.
Dhaval Vussonji & Associates
Year established: 2013
Office locations: Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore
Number of partners: 3
One of the unique things about the 39-lawyer Dhaval Vussonji & Associates, is that with the exception of co-managing partner Dhaval Vussonji himself, all the other partners -including associate partners – are women. This is not an accident.
“Much has been said about lack of women representation across various platforms. We at our firm, have women at the helm of most of our affairs. We encourage and create an eco-system that supports and allows for women to perform the role they are best suited for – multitasking!” It adds: “Our biggest driver for growth has been the extremely capable women partners, Prachi Dave and Minal Sampat, along with our four women associate partners, leading teams and taking deals/matters to closure and ensuring growth of our lawyers.”
The firm is expanding rapidly – it added 18 lawyers in 2018 – and key work in the past year has included matters in the area of insolvency and bankruptcy, banking and finance and real estate.
“We are a firm that is extremely focused on growing our insolvency and bankruptcy practice, given the novelty of the law in India and the uncertainty around it for our clients. We enjoy a first mover advantage, given we have solid commercial and litigation teams at the firm.”
Gaggar & Partners
Year established: 2005
Office location: New Delhi
Number of partners: 4
Established in 2005 by Vaibhav Gaggar, Gaggar & Partners had a good year last year, seeing an increase in revenue of about 25 to 30 percent and adding five lawyers to its team. The firm also entered into a unique joint venture with Anand and Anand, India’s leading intellectual property firm to work together on competition-law related issues that have an IP and technology overlap. The Special Purpose Vehicle is called Anand Anand and Gaggar, and has Vaibhav Gaggar and Pravin Anand, managing partner of Anand and Anand, as its partners. Apart from expertise in new economy verticals such as antitrust/competition law, corporate fraud and money laundering, gaming/sports law and cyber laws, Gaggar is also engaged as an advisor and counsel by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. In one significant case last year, firm represented the CCI in the cement cartelization case wherein penalty was imposed by NCLAT for allegedly creating a cartel. Gaggar was also appointed by the CCI to defend the constitutional validity of the antitrust body and its existence itself.
“The CCI was fighting against 14 car companies who in turn were represented by every law firm in the antitrust domain in India,” said the firm.
Halder & Associates
Year established: 2017
Office location: New Delhi
Number of partners: 2
The eight-lawyer Halder & Associates was set up by Ajoy Halder, who has worked with firms in India and abroad, including the legacy Amarchand Mangaldas, Trilegal, DSK and HSA Advocates, where he was a partner. In between, he spent nearly five years in Singapore with Pinsent Masons.
“Ajoy has a very good relationship with law firms and companies in Singapore, which helps the firm from generating work from international clients,” said the firm. “He has substantial international experience which helps us deliver work in line with the expectation of our international clients.” In the past year, key practice areas have been renewable energy, infrastructure and TMT. “We primarily advise inbound (international) infrastructure and energy companies on projects in India,” said Halder & Associates.
Key work in the past few years has included advising IFC on the $1.4 billion Clark Airport PPP Project, ADB on the $500 million financing of multiple solar projects, CPI on a renewal energy project, Alstom on a solar project, an Indian infrastructure company on an ongoing acquisition of a port, an international renewal energy company on the ongoing acquisition of three solar projects, an international oil and gas company on an ongoing LNG project, and more.
Ikigai Law
Year established: 2018
Office location: New Delhi
Number of partners: 1
Ikigai Law was set up by Anirudh Rastogi, a former associate with Nishith Desai Associates and O’Melveny and Myers, who had earlier established another boutique law firm, TRA Law, in 2012. The firm is already making waves as counsel to innovative businesses. For example, Ikigai is the lead counsel firm to three of India’s leading cryptocurrency exchanges and a newly setup exchange in their writ petition before the Supreme Court of India in challenging the Indian central bank’s directive to terminate the crypto-exchanges’ access to banking and other financial services. Ikigai feels the main drivers behind its growth have been two-fold.
“First, we are constantly able to develop deep, market-leading practices around niche, forward –looking technology verticals, such as unmanned aviation, data privacy, financial-technology, and so on. We move very quickly to seize these opportunities and corner a significant portion of the market before other firms are able to conceive a strategy around these practice areas,” said Ikigai.“Secondly, we have developed a reputation for our ability to assist businesses navigate fluid and often ambiguous regulatory frameworks and are able to charge steep premium for such mission critical advice while building deep relationships with clients.” The firm is keen to develop its fintech and healthtech practices in the near future.
MZM Legal
Year established: 2005
Office locations: New Delhi, Mumbai
Number of partners: 8
Led by managing partner Zulfiquar Memon, criminal law-focused Mumbai firm MZM Legal had a banner year last year, growing from 10 fee-earners to 25, and opening a new office in the capital New Delhi along with associate offices in Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad. It also launched international arbitration, banking and finance, and taxation practices. Key work has included representing Punj Lloyd Limited against Sirte Oil Company of Libya in an international arbitration under the ICC rules where the claim was approximately 200 million euro ($225 million; representing Punj Lloyd Limited in a domestic arbitration against ONGC; representing Ramachandra Venkatramanan, managing trustee of Tata Trusts in criminal defamation cases against Cyrus Mistry and his companies; representing Essar Shipping in an arbitration execution proceeding for an award SAIL; advising Tata Trusts on its strategic collaboration with Atletico Madrid in India; advised Tata Trust on its strategic collaboration with Mars Incorporation Ltd in India; representing Technimont in a cybercrime case wherein the company was defrauded to the tune of $18 million; representing the ex-sales head of Airbus India in an massive graft case; and more.
“We have witnessed an upward shift in matters of dispute resolution, fraud and criminal investigation of large corporations and insolvency and bankruptcy,” the firm said.
Nitya Tax Associates
Year established: 2015
Office locations: New Delhi, Bengaluru, Gurgaon
Number of partners: 3
Tax boutique Nitya is expanding rapidly. It opened its new office in Bengaluru in March, and is also growing its network of associate firms across India. Apart from this, it deepened its GST practice and has also ventured into legal metrology laws with a dedicated team to service its increasing clientele. The firm now offers advisory, compliance and health checks under the Legal Metrology Act (LMA) and allied laws.
“GST indeed turned out to be a huge boon for large consumer goods companies in 2017. Since all of them were GST compliant, they saw growth at the expense of their regional and unorganised counterparts who had always given them tough competition,” said Nitya. “With our dedicated team of advisors on GST related issues, we have been able to cater to a growing clientele. It has also helped us create inroads in certain sectors and organisations for other specialised areas in the indirect tax space. With increasing legal costs in organisations, we have been able to position ourselves as the next best alternative to the top indirect tax firms providing professional, economic and effective team of experts and retained by leading MNCs.” In the coming months, the firm’s strategy is to consolidate and strengthen its presence in northern India.
ZBA
Year established: 2017
Office location: Mumbai
Number of partners: 2
In September 2017, Mumbai-based ZBA hired Niloufer Lam as a parntner from Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas. She opened up new segments for the firm, including banking and corporate finance, debt capital markets, insolvency, M&A and restructuring. Since then, the firm has acted as Indian legal advisers to Axis Bank Limited Singapore branch, Citigroup Global Markets Singapore, HSBC, and Standard Chartered Bank on the recent $5 billion Rule 144A medium-term note programme for Axis Bank Limited; acting for Shriram Transport Finance Company Limited (STFC) the largest vehicle leasing company in India and a listed entity, the selling shareholder in the sale of a majority stake of 51 percent equity shares of its wholly owned subsidiary Shriram Automall India Limited (SAMIL) to CarTrade/ MXC Solutions Private Limited (MXC); and representing the owners of LPG carrier BW Maple that collided with Dawn Kanchipuram at Ennore leading to pollution damage and claims.
“As a new firm, albeit with experienced partners in their respective fields, our strategy for growth is focused on serving mid-capsize corporates both domestically and internationally giving them highly specialised advice and greater partner time at a fraction of the cost vis-à-vis larger firms,” said ZBA. In the past year, it has added two associates, and seen a 50 percent revenue increase.
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