Talks about liberalising the legal sector are set to take a back seat as the Indian Government looks at prioritising wider issues such as poverty and infrastructure.
Expectations of the delays come as the Lord Mayor of the City of
The delegation to Chennai, Mumbai, Pune and
Gupta, who joined Bird & Bird in
Any hold-ups caused by the forthcoming election come on top of already longstanding delays. The most recent blow occurred late last year when the BCI teamed up with the country’s state Bar councils to urge the Government not to open up the legal profession to foreign lawyers.
Several leading lawyers have spoken out publicly against the idea, including Cyril Shroff, managing partner of one of
However, with the Indian economy booming, City law firms have stepped up their attempts to win work in the region even without liberalisation.
While some, such as Eversheds, Ashurst and Bird & Bird, have been bolstering their
The move followed that of Linklaters, whose 2007 ‘best friends’ agreement with Mumbai-based Talwar Thakore & Associates upset many local firms. Others, such as Herbert Smith and SJ Berwin, are opting to recruit trainees direct from Indian universities.
Herbert Smith India head, Chris Parsons, is next heading to India in September, when he hopes to recruit 10 law students for a four-week internship. The firm also has 10 Indian trainees joining at the same time.
Herbert Smith’s links with the country have already paid off, with the firm winning a leading role on one of India’s most significant deals in recent months — Tata Motors’ $2bn (£1bn) acquisition of Ford’s Jaguar and Land Rover subsidiaries.
A&O advised the State Bank of India on its $4.38bn (£2.2bn) equity rights issue earlier this year, while Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton secured a lead role advising on the record $2.93bn (£1.48bn) initial public offering (IPO) of Indian energy group Reliance Power — understood to be the largest IPO seen to date in the key emerging market.
But with City players hiring direct from
Trilegal partner Anand Prasad believes liberalisation would help stem this flow of talent.
He told Legal Week: “There is a lack of lawyers to practise proper commercial law. The general picture in
“There was a large gap between Indian lawyers’ salaries compared with the rest of the world. The market now looks as if that gap is narrowing. Indian firms need to compete with international firms hiring Indian lawyers and lawyers going in-house.”
One magic circle lawyer, previously a partner at an Indian firm, said: “Many good lawyers have been hired by international law firms and have moved to
