Economic Times Indian law firms shying away from best friend relationships

ET’s Paramita Chatterjee writes a news feature on how Indian law firms are shying away from exclusive tie-ups with their foreign counterparts, a trend that was catching up in the recent past to get referral work from each other..Economic Time’s Paramita Chatterjee writes a news feature on how Indian law firms are shying away from exclusive tie-ups with their foreign counterparts, a trend that was catching up in the recent past to get referral work from each other..After mkt recovery, law firms shy away from global tie-ups INDIAN law firms are shying away from exclusive tie-ups with their foreign counterparts, a trend that was catching up in the recent past to get referral work from each other.With the recovery in the domestic economy gathering pace, Indian firms have a lot to concentrate on in the country itself say lawyers. In an exclusive tie-up, Indian and foreign law firms refer work related to each others clients but as international acquisition transactions have slowed the advantage of a tie-up has diminished. A lawyer with a Indian firm that has an existing alliance with a foreign firm said: “The expectation of significant business coming from cross-border deals has come down in the last few months”. At present, foreign law firms are not allowed to operate in India and the Bar Council of India prohibits joint ventures between foreign and domestic firms. But, global law firms have established their presence in India through informal tie-ups with Indian firms, aiming to understand the market before the legal services industry is opened to foreigners in the future. Some of the global firms which have already set their foot in India through such tie-ups are Clifford Chance, Allen & Overy and Linklaters, among others. They have non-financial client referral arrangements with AZB and Partners, Trilegal and Talwar Thakore & Associates, respectively. As key markets such as US and Europe are yet to come out of the economic slowdown and Indian companies are far from stepping up their global acquisition drive, local law firms have much less to gain from getting tied down to a single international counterpart. Society of Indian Law Firm’s president Lalit Bhasin said, “It makes sense for an Indian firm to work with different global players instead of tying up with one exclusively as that gives better exposure in terms of the number of clients”.Som Mandal, managing partner at Fox Mandal Little, said law firms in the country are preferring to focus more on the Indian consumption story. .Please also read Paramita’s news feature in 2008 titled, Global law firms seek tie-ups with Indian peers which lists out a number of foreign law firms scouting for tie-ups with domestic law firms as a first step for a footprint in India.

Economic Times Indian law firms shying away from best friend relationships

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