Indian lawyers heading westward

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Mumbai, Sep 24: Lawyers from India are increasingly joining overseas law firms to represent cases involving Indian companies abroad. Many renowned lawyers specialised in capital market issues are heading to the West as mergers and acquisitions, and fund raising activities hot up in the global market.

Firms such as Clifford Chance, Darlington’s and Linklaters are looking to start large-scale recruitment from India. Many have already roped in some first-rate talents.

Indian regulations do not allow foreign lawyers to practice in India. The Indian teams of foreign law firms are therefore based outside India. International law firms, in particular the big UK firms, have begun to visit Indian law schools to do recruitment drives of their own–a strategy that will help them set up Indian offices should foreign law firms be permitted to practice in India, says a human resource manager at a leading legal outsourcing process (LPO) firm.

According to him, around 95% of lawyers in India are litigators, but it’s the other 5% that this firm is interested in. They are the lawyers working in the emerging capital market of India.

Sunil Kakkad, partner, Lawrence Graham LLP, a London-based law firm, said, “As the economy grows it throws an ocean of opportunity to such professionals. As the Indian corporates expand their wings globally, clients’ demand for advice on Indian transactions also grows. The English language advantage coupled with the Indian expertise in understanding laws of other English speaking nations gives them an added advantage. As far as cases of Indian corporate are concerned, it is a combination of the highest global standards and local expertise which gives them an edge.”

A typical profile of a capital market lawyer includes opinions on Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) Guidelines, Takeover and Insider Trading Regulations including Disclosure & Investor Protection (DIP) Guidelines, investment banking and venture capital fund registration, registration of foreign institutional investors with Sebi and securities litigation at the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT). Other areas like issue of American Depository Receipts (ADRs) and Global Depository Receipts (GDRs) and placement of Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds (FCCBs) also needs some transaction level advisory.