The results of the Rainmaker Law Firm Survey and Awards 2009 have been released, with Amarchand Mangaldas, AZB & Partners and J. Sagar Associates coming out on top as the best law firms in India. J. Sagar has also been declared the best firm to work in, while Phoenix Legal claims the title of Young and Upcoming Law Firm of the Year. Amarchand is perceived to be the most powerful brand in the Indian legal market, while Clifford Chance led amongst international firms with India practices, with Linklaters coming a close second.

The online survey, conducted between November 3 and 30, 2009, was taken by 435 lawyers. 51 percent of these lawyers were from national full-service firms. The majority of votes polled were from Bombay, with Delhi and Bangalore coming second and third, respectively. The polling group was comprised predominantly of associates and senior associates, but also included responses from salaried and equity partners.

The survey assesses various aspects of a law firm's functioning, including branding and advertising, training for lawyers and support staff, human resources policy, work/life balance, marketing and client development, career growth and progression and technology.

The aim of the survey is to render an overall perspective of the functioning of Indian firms, and the changes suggested by people working within the system. "Our only hope is for the lessons of the survey to be imbibed by the community of Indian law firms, and stakeholders in Indian law firms and discuss it amongst themselves, perhaps through the vehicle of our website, or newsletter or through our Facebook page," says John. "But the greatest discussion will happen in-house. We have already received several calls from firms who want minutiae from the results of the survey," he reveals, adding that the response to the survey has also been beneficial for their newly-constituted legal consultancy service.

An Amarchand associate who took the survey, however, is not as confident about the real-time impact of the report. "The questions asked in the survey were very pertinent," she states, "But I am not sure if it will make a difference, since the people who make the decisions in law firms may not be the ones looking at the results."

J. Sagar's Bangalore Partner, Murali Ananthasivan, is of the opinion that surveys like Rainmaker's can provide some insight to law firms. He admits, "The survey does have some inputs that we may not have considered, and that have been brought out by the responses." He agreed that a survey of this sort was useful for Indian firms, and a laudable effort.

However, the size of the survey remains an issue. Are the 435 lawyers who took the survey an adequate representation of the cross section of Indian law firms? Rainmaker's Aju John points out that the polling population covers approximately 10 percent of corporate lawyers in India, which he feels is a fair cross-sectional representation of Indian law firms.

The response to the survey has increased from the previous year, and Rainmaker is confident that the survey will continue to grow in popularity. This is one of the few surveys in India that assess the functioning of law firms, a process that associates from law firms across the country feel is necessary. But Rainmaker has long way to go to catch up with its US counterpart, the Vault Law Firm rankings. In 2009, Vault had over 15,000 law firm associates taking the survey to assess the top 100 law firms in the United States. 

The results of the survey are available here.