RSG Rankings 2015: Guess which firm ranked the highest in customer satisfaction?

RSG Consulting, a legal strategy and research organization, recently published its list of the Top 40 Indian law firms for 2015. The big law firms have retained their positions since RSG released its last list in 2013, with soon to be split Amarchand Mangaldas retaining the top position..The parameters used for compiling the list include Capacity – number of partners and lawyers; Market Profile; Firm’s client base and recent work; and Client Satisfaction. Ten points have been attributed to each criterion and the firms are rated in order of their overall score..Big Law prevails.Amarchand Mangaldas leads the list with a total score of 37.8. Of course, this score was for the undivided firm..RSG notes, “The majority of clients reviewed both Mumbai and Delhi as a single firm, making it difficult to know for sure.” RSG ran a hypothetical ranking on Amarchand as two separate firms and found that, “today, the two new firms would share the top spot based on their current figures, client relationships and market profile.”.However, according to RSG, this may change after a year of operating separately, and “we’d expect to see the firms differentiate themselves and their market positions in this period”..AZB & Partners and Khaitan & Co are tied in second place with Khaitan scoring better on capacity and client satisfaction scores than AZB, but falling behind in terms of market profile and quality of mandate..J Sagar Associates, Luthra & Luthra, Trilegal complete the top six. Though JSA was more visible this year, they have been less active on large deals. Although Luthra & Luthra has a relatively low client satisfaction score, it has a strong market profile and client base. Trilegal received significant mentions as a ‘top tier law firm’ from clients. The firm has made strong gains to establish itself as one of the top six firms in clients’ eyes, but it still lags well behind the other five in profile..Smaller firms.The others in the top ten include S&R Associates, which too maintains its seventh position like 2013. Economic Laws Practice, which has moved up 4 ranks to 8th, followed by Desai & Diwanji and Talwar Thakore & Associates..RSG notes that the market is not necessarily a top heavy one, with many smaller firms carving out reputations as top tier in terms of quality. “The firms which punch well above their weight by size are S&R Associates, Talwar Thakore & Associates, Platinum Partners, Bharucha & Partners and Phoenix Legal. Each has fewer than 10 partners, and only Phoenix breaks the 50 lawyer mark.”.Biggest movers.Dua Associates has moved up 13 places since 2013. Mumbai-based firm Bharucha & Partners, which has only 7 partners and 47 lawyers, has climbed 12 ranks to 15th position. Kanga & Co has improved its ranking by five and sits in 22nd place..At the other end of the spectrum, ALMT Legal and Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan have seen the biggest drops, falling from 21st to 36th and 7th to 19th respectively. Other significant drops include HSA Advocates, Fox Mandal and DH Law Associates, which have each dropped seven notches. Anand & Anand and Nishith Desai Associates have also fallen in the rankings, having dropped 6 and 5 places respectively..New entrants.Four law firms, which did not find mention in the 2013 rankings, have featured in this year’s Top 40. They are BMR Legal (25th), Samvad Partners (35th), SB Partners (39th) and Gagrats (40th)..On the other hand, three firms from the 2013 list have not appeared in this year’s list. They are Crawford Bayley & Co, P&A Law and Lexygen..Client satisfaction.Interestingly, none of the top seven have crossed the 9-point mark when it comes to client satisfaction..IP firm Anand & Anand, ranked at 16, has the highest client satisfaction score of 9.3. Kochhar & Co and Phoenix Legal are second and third with scores of 9.2 and 9.1 respectively. ELP is the only firm ranked in top 10 to have a score of 9. Kanga & Co also has a score of 9..Other notable mentions include S&R Associates, Tatva Legal, K Law and Gagrats with a score of 8.9 each..RSG notes, “The relatively smaller firms have higher scores mostly because many international clients prefer to use a top quality smaller firm, where they are more likely to receive senior partner attention.”.Image taken from here.