As the team at Bar & Bench rings out the old and rings in the new, we take a look at the year that was.

It may not have been the Great Depression, but the global economic crisis heralded by the fall of Lehman Brothers in 2008 had a profound impact on lawyers the world over. The Indian legal market came out of it relatively unscathed: recruitments suddenly slowed, the capital markets were chancy, at best, and salaries saw a freeze. But legal outsourcing saw an upswing, several major deals were still in the pipeline, and from the third quarter of this year, most firms displayed a cautious optimism as the markets picked up once more, and several sectors showed a marked improvement.

Fly, Oh rainbow flag

The Delhi High Court earned several accolades in July when it watered down the scope of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code to de-criminalize consensual non-vaginal sex, overturning the hundred and fifty year-old monument to Victorian morality. The Bench, comprising Chief Justice  A.P. Shah and Justice S. Muralidhar, found in favour of petitioners Naz Foundation, holding that S.377 was violative of the right to health, read under the right to life provision of the Constitution, as well as the right to equality and the right against discrimination. The judgment has been heralded as 'historic' and 'enlightened', but as the matter is currently on appeal in the Supreme Court, the closet might have to stay shut for a while longer.

To pay or not to pay

FoxMandal Little, the Indian mega firm created by the merger of two of India's oldest firms, lost several partners and associates this year. The Firm, hit by a liquidity crisis in June-July, was forced to withhold payment to its fee-earners in Delhi. Corporate Partner Vineet Aneja returned to Luthra, while Partner K.A. Najmi joined project finance boutique India Law Services. Two more partners, Ravi Bishnoi and Rajan Gupta broke away in December to join up with two other former FoxMandal partners, Saroj Jha and Gaurav Bhatia, to set up SRGR Law Offices. The Firm, however, seems optimistic despite the high rate of attrition, especially after bagging the role of legal advisor to the government in the Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam divestment.

Best friends forever

Allen & Overy set a new trend in August when A&O Capital Markets Partner Srinivas Parthasarathy relocated from their Singapore offices to head 'best friend' Trilegal's stagnant capital markets practice. The move was revolutionary, giving international firms a stronger footing in the Indian market through their allies, a loophole that Linklaters was quick to take advantage of. The firm sent Partners Kunal Thakore and Narayan Iyer to its Indian best friend Talwar Thakore, cementing an already strong relationship between the firms. Sources indicate that more such moves may be in the pipeline, especially in the aftermath of the Bombay High Court judgment regarding liaison offices for foreign firms. Several international firms who have been awaiting the High Court's decision before making a move, also appear to be favourably contemplating best friend agreements with Indian firms.

United we stand

Best friend relationships are not the only way Indian law firms are preparing for the eventual liberalization of the legal sector. This year has seen several mergers by some major law firms, who have acquired or merged with smaller or niche-practice firms in an attempt to expand geographically and sectorally. J. Sagar Associates made waves in June when it merged with Bangalore-based M&C Partners, an AZB breakaway. AZB, no slouch in the merger department, announced its merger with another Bangalore-based firm, Anup S. Shah Law Firm, in July, a move that doubled its already-sizeable presence in Bangalore, and gave it handholds in Chennai and Hyderabad. The South saw more action, on a smaller scale, as Bangalore-based Atman Law Partners entered into an alliance with Delhi's Salvus Partners. And Paras Kuhad Associates briefly linked up with Hemant Sahai Associates but dissolved the merger in a little over two months citing differences in work culture.

On top of the world 

Legal Process Outsourcing has only one direction left to go, and that's up. LPO major Integreon, ranked as the number one knowledge outsourcing enterprise by the Black Book of Outsourcing, has had a very successful 2009. The company signed an outsourcing agreement with top UK firms, Simmons & Simmons and Allen & Overy, breaking into the largely-unexploited UK outsourcing market. Integreon has some ambitious growth plans, which it is planning to finance through a PE fund-raising drive. The expansion has already begun, with Integreon's acquisition of Monitor Group's captive research unit, Grail Research. Other LPOs are also looking at expansion, including Pune-based Mindcrest, which is ramping up its offshore capacity, and the Clutch Group, which is looking to expand its on-shore capabilities. Private Equity firms have evinced increased interest in the Legal Process Outsourcing outfits in 2009, with several of them fighting for a piece of the pie in CPA Global.

Brother v. Brother 

Secret MoUs, liquid gold and conspiracy theories have dominated the global news since the Supreme Court began hearing the Ambani brothers dispute on October 20. The matter has proceeded in a surprisingly fast track through the courts, with arguments from both sides concluding in less than two months, despite the recusal of Justice Raveendran from the Bench halfway through the hearings. Maverick Ram Jethmalani displayed the full range of his histrionic abilities throughout the hearing, accusing the government of conspiring with RIL, raging against Salve's arguments regarding gas pricing. Salve, making it clear that he was counsel for RIL, rather than Mukesh Ambani, dissociated the company from the MoU between the brothers, and argued vociferously for increasing the price of gas from the amount agreed on in the MoU. The Supreme Court has reserved judgment, and all eyes are on India's apex court as the fate of the 75 billion dollar dispute rests in the hands of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Justice P. Sathasivam and Justice B. Sudershan Reddy.

SEBI in Soup

The SEBI may have been hoping that the Two-Member Committee's report on the 2005 IPO scam would quietly fade from public memory, but Advocate Vivek Reddy was not about to let that happen. In November, the Andhra Pradesh High Court admitted two PILs demanding the release of the Two-Member Committee's report and challenging the SEBI's inaction regarding the quasi-judicial orders passed by the Committee, which had been constituted to investigate the scam and identify the persons responsible. Besieged on all fronts, the SEBI made the orders public, but tried to declare them 'non est', a move that was roundly condemned by legal experts, including former CJI, Justice Verma. The SEBI has now appointed Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai to review the Committee's orders.

The Dinakaran Din

In August this year, the Supreme Court collegium announced Karnataka Chief Justice P.D. Dinakaran's name as one of the five judges being considered for elevation to the Supreme Court. Controversy erupted almost immediately, with several parties bringing allegations of land grabbing and encroachment against Dinakaran. The row raised several tertiary issues regarding standards of judicial propriety and quality of the Bar, as well as highlighting the need for transparency and accountability within the Bar. Finally, after several months of debate within government and Judicial Circles, and escalating violence in protests from the Bar, the Supreme Court collegium decided to put Dinakaran's elevation on hold indefinitely. The Karnataka Chief Justice, who has been markedly quiet through the fiasco, has nonetheless emphatically rejected the accusations against him, on the few occasions when he made public statements. Although he has withdrawn from judicial proceedings in the High Court, he continues to fulfill administrative functions, despite vociferous demands from the Bar for his transfer. With no Supreme Court in Dinakaran's horizon, what will his next step be?

A Moot Point 

While momentous events were shaking the firms, the courts and the judiciary, the National Law School of India University, with its customary élan, made Indian mooting history. The 3-member team comprising Raeesa Vakil, Abhimanyu George Jain, and Shwetank Ginodia became the first Indian team to win the international rounds of the Manfred Lachs International Space Law Moot. Raeesa Vakil also won the prize for Best Oralist. Mooting has acquired a tremendous amount of cachet in law school circles in recent years, with several Indian universities making a favourable impression in international mooting competitions such as the Philip C. Jessup Moot and the Willem C. Vis Arbitration Moot.

No Entry 

The Bombay High Court finally put an end to fourteen ye ars of uncertainty when it ruled that the RBI's permission to foreign firms to set up liaison offices in India was bad in law. The judgment received a lot of hype in the national and international media, some of which was, perhaps, unwarranted. The Bombay High Court has held that the practice of the profession of law includes litigious as well as non-litigious practice, a move that has been welcomed by the Society of Indian Law Firms and the Bar Councils and which may perhaps help to bridge the divide between law firm lawyers and litigators. International firms are still mulling the implications of the decision and the spotlight will now be turned on the Ministry of Law and Justice for legislative action on opening the Indian legal sector. Law Minister Veerappa Moily, however, has been insistent that no action will be taken by the Ministry without the consent of the Bar Council and other representatives of the Indian legal fraternity.

Despite some lows, it has overall been a great year for the Indian legal sector, especially in comparison to the doom-and-gloom that clouded the birth of the year 2009. The year 2010 promises to be just as exciting for lawyers and lawyers-to-be across India with the impending Reliance judgment, the Supreme Court hearings on Section 377, the possible appointment of a woman judge to the Supreme Court, and several PSU divestments by the government of India. We at Bar & Bench wish our readers success in all their endeavours and a happy and prosperous New Year.

This is part one of a two-part article; the second part is a preview of what the new year has in store for the Indian legal community. Watch this space.

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