economic laws practice

8/12/2019 Economic Laws Practice

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Economic Laws Practice:

Established since 2001, Economic Laws Practice (ELP) carves its niche as a premium lawfirm focussed on delivering best quality results to its clients. In its 12th year of existence, thefirm has established six offices throughout India and built a talented team of professionals.

Within Mumbai, Economic Laws Practice is a third tier firm. Jointly headed by Suhail Nathani and Sujjain Talwar, Economic Laws Practice s six-partner team provides anefficient and comprehensive M&A service which is underpinned by an excellentunderstanding of related tax issues. The team recently advised Jet Airways on EtihadAirways acquisition of a minority interest in the client. Othe r clients include Phoenix Mills,India Infoline and New Vernon Private Equity. ELP has a unique positioning amongst lawfirms in India from the perspective of offering comprehensive services across the entirespectrum of transactional, advisory, litigation, regulatory, and tax matters. Our areas ofexpertise include Banking & Finance; Competition Law & Policy; Corporate & Commercial;Hospitality; Infrastructure; International Trade & Customs; Litigation & Dispute Resolution;Private Equity & Venture Capital; Securities Laws & Capital Markets; Tax; andTelecommunication, Media & Technology.

Main Areas of Practice:

1. Tax: ELP integrates a litigation and transaction based tax practice comprising of bothdirect and indirect tax. This combination gives ELP and its clients an edge in itstransactional matters and advisory work. Key Clients: Tata Group, Vedanta Group,Adani Group, Aditya Birla Group, JetAirways, Philips Electronics, Microsoft, Sun

Microsystems, Xerox, Google, Oracle, Juniper, Vodafone Cellular Ltd.

2. Litigation & Dispute Resolution: ELP has a significant litigation practice. Itrepresents Indias largest real estate groups in an LCIA India arbitration involvingclaims of around 1 billion USD and advising on connected multi-jurisdictionaldisputes (co- counsel with DLA Piper, Dubai). It also represents two of Indias largesttelecom companies before the Bombay High Court in matters arising under theForeign Trade Policy. Key Clients: Adani Enterprises Ltd., Welspun Corp. Ltd.,Honeywell, Reliance Industries, DP World, L&T, Vodafone Cellular Ltd., EmiratesTelecommunications, Linklaters, Maxis, Meriux Alliance.

3. International Trade & Customs: ELP represents various companies in relation toantidumping, safeguard and counterveiling duty actions initiated in India or againstIndia including representations on such matters. ELP assists its clients in seekingmarket access opportunities under various FTAs and in matters on export controlregulations in India. Key Clients: Formosa Plastics Corporation USA, MitsuiPhenols Singapore Pte. Ltd., Sasol Solvents Ltd., JSW Steel Ltd., Piramal EnterprisesLtd., General Electric Company, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tricon Energy Ltd.
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11. Securities & Capital Markets: ELP services covers the entire spectrum of Indiancapital markets for listed companies, their promoters and persons associated with thesecurities markets. They advise issuers and market intermediaries on regulatory issuesand transaction structuring. Key Clients: Future Capital Holdings Ltd, National Spot

Exchange Ltd, Igara.

Industry at a glance:

RSG Consulting has published its top 40 ranking of Indian law firms since 2008. This year,we have added an additional indicator to capture client satisfaction with their law firms, andfocused the quality indicator on law firms quality of mandate.

The RSG Top 40 ranking is based on four key indicators, comprised of 35 different metrics:

1. Capability2. Profile3. Quality of mandate4. Client satisfaction

The metrics used to compile the ranking are drawn from 100 telephone interviews with majorlegal purchasers, over 350 client ratings scorecards, analysis of 180 law firms, on the groundfieldwork with Indian law firms and clients, interviews with foreign law firms and analysis ofZephyr deals databases and published league tables from other sources. The RSG ranking

shows that to be a top 40 Indian law firm is not straight-forward. The sometimes meteoricrise up the ranking of firms such as S&R Associates, Platinum Partners and Phoenix Legal(who each achieved higher client satisfaction scores than the incumbent firms of Amarchand& Mangaldas, AZB & Partners, Khaitan & Co and J Sagar Associates), speaks volumes onhow the pecking order of Indian law firms is not as well established as the top firms mightlike to believe. Some of the enablement of the upstarts is down to the purchasing patterns offoreign clients and foreign law firms who find the younger firms more compatible with theirservice values and approach to clients.

In the client satisfaction review, the largest Indian law firms received the lowest scores forservice delivery. Availability, timeliness and budgeting were areas where the top firms oftenfell far behind smaller and newer competitors in the eyes of clients. The average clientsatisfaction score for Amarchand & Mangaldas, AZB & Partners and Luthra & Luthra was7.8 compared to an average of 9.3 for Phoenix Legal and 8.9 for both S&R Associates andPlatinum Partners. Of the top six firms, only Trilegal, who had a client satisfaction score of8.5, scored consistently over the market average of 8.2.

Amarchand & Mangaldas remains the best known and largest law firm with the mostinfluential network of contacts. Its footprint and spread of practice areas means it remains as

the powerhouse of Indian law firms. However, it does fall down in its client ratings comparedto many peers.


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This is similar for other large firms who grapple with maintaining client satisfaction as theyundergo rapid growth (the average partner growth for the top six law firms was 24% between2011 and 2013).

The threatening firms are Khaitan & Co and JSA who score higher client satisfaction scores.Khaitan in particular also received the second most mentions in terms of usage from thecontrol group of 100 major purchasers interviewed. This increased scope of practice hastaken Khaitan up to an equal second place position alongside AZB. Clients were more likelyto spread their top tier recommendations this year and, in particular, showed increasedwillingness to shop around for genuine expertise in specialist areas. As a result, firms with aspecialist practice area focus like Nishith Desai Associates, Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan,Vaish Associates Advocates and Anand & Anand continue to do well in the ranking.

Some new firms entered the top 40 ratings for the first time in 2013 including Link Legal on

the back of its strong infrastructure practice and Krishnamurthy & Co who received strongindependent recommendations from some of Indias top companies. Another small firm toenter the ranking includes Mundkur & Partners (based in Bangalore). Singhania & Partners, amore established firm, also seems to be riding the litigation wave and enters the ranking forthe first time with good client reviews and a higher profile than previous years.

Top Law Firms in India:

Rank Company Name Practiceareas

Numberof

partners

Numberof

Lawyers

RSGProfilescore

RSGClient

satisfactionscore

TotalScore

1

Amarchand &Mangaldas &

Suresh A Shroff& Co

FullService

69 600 196 7.83 36

2 AZB & Partners FullService

20 250 152 7.84 34

3 Khaitan & Co FullService

57 300 130 8.14 34

4 J Sagar

Associates

Full

Service

50 240 70 8.06 30


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5 Luthra & Luthra Full

Service45 290 61 7.79 29

6 Tri Legal FullService 20 150 58 8.55 28

7 Lakshmikumaran& Sridharan

Tax 28 120 6 9.05 27

8 Nishith DesaiAssociates

Funds,Tax

7 67 33 8.67 27

9 S & RAssociates

FullService

7 42 18 8.93 27

10 Talwar Thakore& Associates

FullService

4 20 33 8.68 27

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