Conversation with Ashok Lalwani Global India Practice Head Baker amp McKenzie

Bar & Bench spoke to Ashok Lalwani, Baker & McKenzie’s newly appointed Global India Practice Head. Lalwani joined Baker & Mckenzie as a partner in 2002. He also heads the firm’s Asia Pacific and US Securities practices and has more than 23 years of experience advising leading financial institutions and corporates on international securities, mergers and acquisitions, as well as general corporate law..Bar & Bench spoke to Ashok Lalwani, Baker & McKenzie’s newly appointed Global India Practice Head. Lalwani joined Baker & Mckenzie as a partner in 2002. He also heads the firm’s Asia Pacific and US Securities practices and has more than 23 years of experience advising leading financial institutions and corporates on international securities, mergers and acquisitions, as well as general corporate law. .Lalwani is a US qualified lawyer and did his J.D. from University of Notre Dame (Class of ‘89). He also holds an M.B.A. degree from Michigan State University..Bar & Bench: Talk us through your experience in assisting Indian companies in cross border transactions? .Ashok Lalwani: We have been very active in cross-border transactions, whether they may be outbound M&A and related financings by Indian companies or inbound investment by multinationals into India. Over the years, we have acted on many significant India-related transactions, including Abbott Laboratories’ US$3.8 billion acquisition of Piramal Healthcare; Hospira and its subsidiary’s US$200 million acquisition of Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceutical’s API manufacturing facility; State Bank of India’s US$500 million loan facility to Indian Railway Finance Corporation; Coal India’s acquisition of a coal mine in Indonesia and Infosys’ acquisition of Lodestone Holding AG..Bar & Bench: How big is the India legal team? How is the India team structured? Are there any plans of hiring more people for the India practice group? .Ashok Lalwani: Our India Focus Group is a multi-jurisdictional, cross-practice group comprising of more than 300 lawyers as members who either have worked in India or have had extensive experience in executing India-related deals. This experience, insight and understanding, combined with our international capabilities, positions us well to assist Indian companies in their business interests worldwide and provide good counsel to international companies when they invest or operate in India..Any increase in the number of people hired or expansions to our thriving India practice will be based on client needs and in areas where we feel we need to do some strategic capability building..Bar & Bench: Your experiences working alongside Indian law firms – How do you rate Indian law firms competitiveness and quality? .Ashok Lalwani: We have deeply entrenched relationships with a number of leading Indian law firms, which have benefited both our firm and the local law firms with richer opportunities. Their expertise, knowledge and quality of work are at par with most leading law firms around the world. Our clients appreciate the deep local expertise that Indian law firms bring to the table, and our close working relationships enable our Firm and the local law firms to respond better to the growing demand among Indian businesses and multinationals for integrated global advice both in their home jurisdiction and in those in which they operate..Bar & Bench: What is the investor sentiment for the Indian market? .Ashok Lalwani: Given the fundamentals of the Indian economy, India is considered an attractive investment option in the long run for foreign investors and so, generally speaking, interest has remained high..A number of external and internal factors resulted in the Indian economy falling to its slowest pace in a decade during the fiscal year ended March 2012. On the domestic front, India appears to be taking focused action to boost economic growth and revive investor sentiment. The spell of policy paralysis appears to have been broken with the recent spate of economic reforms announced by the government. The recent Supreme Court decision in the case of Bharat Aluminium and the Expert Panel’s report on the taxation of indirect transfers are all encouraging and will help alleviate some of the uncertainty created in recent times over the legal and tax system. Setting up the proposed National Investment Board to remove bottlenecks in the approval process for infrastructure projects will also be a welcome change..While all of this has certainly had a positive effect on investor sentiment, the extent to which India is able to capitalize on this upward trend will depend on continued reforms and, more importantly, how the reforms are implemented..Bar & Bench: What is your take on the Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) as an evolving area of business? How do you think law firms modify their businesses in the view of changing dynamics? .Ashok Lalwani: The LPO industry has matured quite a lot in the last three years, and while growth projections are never certain, as companies worldwide continue to look for ways to closely manage their legal services spending, LPO providers will likely remain an option for certain types of work. It is now common for multinational companies to raise the outsourcing question in Request for Proposals and competitive pitches. All law firms need to think about how to bring the best value and service to clients, and using LPO firms for some types of work that can be performed by non-lawyers is a viable option at this point. There remains a tension between risk management and delivering low cost options to the client, and law firms need to ensure that they are duly watchful about working with LPO providers. The industry though, seems here to stay, and all large law firms will have to find ways to incorporate the services LPO firms provide into servicing their clients for some types of work..Bar & Bench: Indian legal market – How do you view it? Your views on liberalization and entry of foreign law firms..Ashok Lalwani: The Indian legal profession has a long and illustrious history, steeped with excellence. Yet global trends are moving across the world to an opening of markets, including legal markets. What we’ve found across the world is that competition among law firms, as in any other industry, drives best practices and improves the service that lawyers offer to their clients. We are often the first movers, opening offices in new jurisdictions, so we’ve seen this many times over..Bar & Bench: Future trend of cross border transactions..Ashok Lalwani: We expect to see robust cross-border activities in the Infrastructure, Energy and IT-ITeS sectors. Outbound M&A activities in the natural resources sector in particular will continue to grow, as Indian companies look to resource-rich countries such as Australia and Indonesia and some of the countries in Africa for resource supply or strategic assets. Renewable energy is another sector where increased investment activities may be seen, particularly given India’s ambitious renewable energy targets and move to cleaner energy sources..Bar & Bench: With your vast experience, where do you see India in 2012-13? .Ashok Lalwani: India’s success story is bound to continue, and the growth momentum in India will likely be sustained, as it continues to brim with possibilities and remains an attractive investment destination.