Bar & Bench spoke to Richard Gubbins, Senior Corporate Partner in London office of Ashurst and the head of the firm’s India practice..Bar & Bench spoke to Richard Gubbins, Senior Corporate Partner in London office of Ashurst and the head of the firm’s India practice..Richard has been a Partner in Ashurst’s office since 1989. Richard set up Ashurst Singapore office in 1996 and returned to London office in 2000. Since then Richard has specialised in advising on corporate and financing deals with an international dimension..Richard graduated from University of Wales, Cardiff. Richard leads one of Ashurst’s four corporate groups. .Bar & Bench: Talk us through your experience in assisting Indian companies in cross border transactions..Richard Gubbin: Ashurst has had an ongoing commitment to India for the past 16 years and we have been advising foreign clients on inward investment and Indian clients on outward investment during that time. In December 2010, we advised Jubilant Energy on their listing on the Alternative Investment Market in London and more recently we advised Aditya Birla on their acquisition of Djomso in Sweden for Euro 350 million..Bar & Bench: How big is the India practice group and how is it structured? .Richard Gubbins: We have 50 lawyers (partners and associates) throughout our 16 offices worldwide who advise clients on India related matters..Bar & Bench: Your experiences working alongside Indian law firms – How do you rate Indian law firms competitiveness and quality? .Richard Gubbins: We have worked alongside all the top Indian law firms for many years and we include Amarchand, Luthra & Luthra, JSA and AZB as firms we have known the longest. As with any law firm we prefer to work with individual partners with whom we have established good long standing relationships and undoubtedly the service we receive from those partners is excellent. More recently Gopika Pant and Piyoosh Gupta from Indian Law Partners have received unstinting praise from our clients around the world which is why we have decided to enter into a non-exclusive referral arrangement with them..Bar & Bench: What are your clients’ thoughts on investing in India? Do you see bullishness or are investors still cautious after the corruption scandals in India? .Richard Gubbins: When investing in India, we advise our clients that they need to possess the “3 P’s” = patience, perseverance (which is my family motto) and persistence! Our clients are fully aware of the need to comply with the provisions of the latest UK Bribery Act as far as corruption is concerned and their real concern is the length of time it takes to obtain relevant consents and formal decisions and the uncertainty caused by delays in the process as shown in the recent letter from our Prime Minister David Cameron to Manmohan Singh..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? .Richard Gubbins: It is an effective “back office” for certain firms. The challenge going forward will be to make it a cost effective service for clients on their transactions and big ticket dispute resolution. Maintaining consistency and ensuring quality will be key..Bar & Bench: Indian legal market – How do you view it? Your views on liberalization and entry of foreign law firms. .Richard Gubbins: I have given up trying to predict when the market will open up! Indian corporate clients want to have immediate access to their global law firms like any other multi-national company and it cannot be cost effective for them to have to fly their lawyers into India to obtain international legal advice. If you look at London in the 1960’s when the US law firms came to set up offices in London to advise their clients on the UK North Sea oil boom, the UK law firms benefited hugely and we received a massive influx of new clients and instructions where we were required to advise on English law. In my opinion the Indian law firms would benefit in the same way if International law firms were allowed to set up offices in India..Bar & Bench: Tell us about the recent best-friend relationship developed with India Law Partners. Also, how will it be beneficial for Ashurst? .Richard Gubbins: It is a non-exclusive best friend referral arrangement which does not prevent us from working with other Indian law firms where clients so require or we need specialist expertise. It benefits Ashurst in that over 30 of my fellow partners have worked with Gopika Pant and Piyoosh Gupta over the past 12 years and have confidence in the consistency and quality of advice that they give. Our clients now have the same degree of confidence and it is a relationship of mutual respect and trust..Bar & Bench: With your vast experience, where do you see India in 2012? .Richard Gubbins: As with many other countries in the world there is a worry as to what will happen to the Eurozone and what impact events in the Eurozone will have on countries like China and India. Elections in India are looming up in 2014, so I think the next year will be challenging and a difficult one to predict. Clients for certain are “keeping their powder” dry for the present.
Bar & Bench spoke to Richard Gubbins, Senior Corporate Partner in London office of Ashurst and the head of the firm’s India practice..Bar & Bench spoke to Richard Gubbins, Senior Corporate Partner in London office of Ashurst and the head of the firm’s India practice..Richard has been a Partner in Ashurst’s office since 1989. Richard set up Ashurst Singapore office in 1996 and returned to London office in 2000. Since then Richard has specialised in advising on corporate and financing deals with an international dimension..Richard graduated from University of Wales, Cardiff. Richard leads one of Ashurst’s four corporate groups. .Bar & Bench: Talk us through your experience in assisting Indian companies in cross border transactions..Richard Gubbin: Ashurst has had an ongoing commitment to India for the past 16 years and we have been advising foreign clients on inward investment and Indian clients on outward investment during that time. In December 2010, we advised Jubilant Energy on their listing on the Alternative Investment Market in London and more recently we advised Aditya Birla on their acquisition of Djomso in Sweden for Euro 350 million..Bar & Bench: How big is the India practice group and how is it structured? .Richard Gubbins: We have 50 lawyers (partners and associates) throughout our 16 offices worldwide who advise clients on India related matters..Bar & Bench: Your experiences working alongside Indian law firms – How do you rate Indian law firms competitiveness and quality? .Richard Gubbins: We have worked alongside all the top Indian law firms for many years and we include Amarchand, Luthra & Luthra, JSA and AZB as firms we have known the longest. As with any law firm we prefer to work with individual partners with whom we have established good long standing relationships and undoubtedly the service we receive from those partners is excellent. More recently Gopika Pant and Piyoosh Gupta from Indian Law Partners have received unstinting praise from our clients around the world which is why we have decided to enter into a non-exclusive referral arrangement with them..Bar & Bench: What are your clients’ thoughts on investing in India? Do you see bullishness or are investors still cautious after the corruption scandals in India? .Richard Gubbins: When investing in India, we advise our clients that they need to possess the “3 P’s” = patience, perseverance (which is my family motto) and persistence! Our clients are fully aware of the need to comply with the provisions of the latest UK Bribery Act as far as corruption is concerned and their real concern is the length of time it takes to obtain relevant consents and formal decisions and the uncertainty caused by delays in the process as shown in the recent letter from our Prime Minister David Cameron to Manmohan Singh..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? .Richard Gubbins: It is an effective “back office” for certain firms. The challenge going forward will be to make it a cost effective service for clients on their transactions and big ticket dispute resolution. Maintaining consistency and ensuring quality will be key..Bar & Bench: Indian legal market – How do you view it? Your views on liberalization and entry of foreign law firms. .Richard Gubbins: I have given up trying to predict when the market will open up! Indian corporate clients want to have immediate access to their global law firms like any other multi-national company and it cannot be cost effective for them to have to fly their lawyers into India to obtain international legal advice. If you look at London in the 1960’s when the US law firms came to set up offices in London to advise their clients on the UK North Sea oil boom, the UK law firms benefited hugely and we received a massive influx of new clients and instructions where we were required to advise on English law. In my opinion the Indian law firms would benefit in the same way if International law firms were allowed to set up offices in India..Bar & Bench: Tell us about the recent best-friend relationship developed with India Law Partners. Also, how will it be beneficial for Ashurst? .Richard Gubbins: It is a non-exclusive best friend referral arrangement which does not prevent us from working with other Indian law firms where clients so require or we need specialist expertise. It benefits Ashurst in that over 30 of my fellow partners have worked with Gopika Pant and Piyoosh Gupta over the past 12 years and have confidence in the consistency and quality of advice that they give. Our clients now have the same degree of confidence and it is a relationship of mutual respect and trust..Bar & Bench: With your vast experience, where do you see India in 2012? .Richard Gubbins: As with many other countries in the world there is a worry as to what will happen to the Eurozone and what impact events in the Eurozone will have on countries like China and India. Elections in India are looming up in 2014, so I think the next year will be challenging and a difficult one to predict. Clients for certain are “keeping their powder” dry for the present.