Indian law firms are going easy on hirings this year, with most firms anticipating a slowdown, especially in the M&A, private equity and venture capital space. This is in stark contrast to last year when top law firms had recruited hundreds of lawyers as business recovered in the aftermath of the pandemic.
“The past year has been good but we may see a slowdown in the coming year. Firms will be more calibrated, more measured in how they grow and how they want to build their businesses,” said Suneeth Katarki, founding partner, IndusLaw.
The international markets are witnessing a slowdown, and this may have an impact on the number of deals and investments flowing into India, added Shweta Shroff Chopra, partner, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co (SAM).
“The Indian economic growth forecast, however, makes us hopeful that work will continue to flow towards the bigger, quality-conscious firms which provide legal services across sectors. Top quality talent has always been valued and welcomed by SAM,” said Chopra, who sees a gradual return of dual qualified lawyers back to the Indian shores.
The current demand for active talent from the Indian law firms is one-fourth of the active demand registered last year, according to Xpheno, a specialist staffing company. With active openings just under 450 (against over 2,000 last year) and attrition slowing down across the cohort, talent action (which takes into account replacement as well as expansion hiring) is set to remain low, it said.
“Top law firms had seen headcount growths as high as 22-42% over the last two years. All sectors that hoarded talent and overhired during the buoyancy have had to resize and pause hiring. The law firms seem to be going through a similar phase of moderation in hiring plans and talent action,” said Prasadh MS, head – Workforce Research, Xpheno.
Hiring from campuses, which could contribute up to a third of the overall recruitment annually, has been subdued as well. Experts attribute this to lower attrition levels seen in the past year, unlike what was seen immediately after the pandemic.
Infrastructure, taxation & GST, patent & IPR, commercial laws, dispute resolution, data privacy and cybersecurity are some areas that are likely to see an uptick in hiring this year.
“There’s a huge amount of work happening in roads, rails, metros, ports and airports. Similarly, there is a push in the direction of green and hydrogen energy. Hiring in these areas could be commensurately higher,” said Katarki.
Cyril Shroff, managing partner at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) said that the firm does not take a short-term view of the current environment and remains invested in its talent-first strategy of hiring and retaining talent.
“We have not witnessed any real slowdown. The focus is on our corporate, financing and disputes practices. Specifically, financial services, infrastructure, IT and gaming are likely to witness an uptick in hiring efforts,” he said, without divulging specific numbers.
SAM’s Chopra anticipates that practice areas such as corporate, projects, disputes and capital markets will continue to be busy, and grow. With upcoming changes in laws, areas of data privacy, cybersecurity, white collar crime and competition law are also likely to gain attention and see a spurt in hiring, she said.
“As a firm, we have been hiring marginally more than previous years for our allied services (non-legal professionals), as these functions have grown to support the rapid growth of the legal practices. We have also introduced new functions such as risk, audit and compliance, digital and practice management to make our management structure and processes at par with the best-in-class,” said Amar Sinhji, executive director (human resources) at Khaitan & Co.
Law firms believe it is too early to gauge the impact of the Bar Council of India’s diktat to allow foreign law firms to practice in India on the basis of reciprocity.
IndusLaw’s Katarki feels that foreign law firms will take some time to assess and figure out their exact path to come into India and it is unlikely that anyone will rush to establish large offices here. Accordingly, there would be no impact on hirings, especially at the fresher level, he said.
CAM’s Shroff believes that with liberalisation there may be a need for more collaboration in the industry going forward. The increasingly competitive landscape is bound to lead to a dash for the right talent, he said: “We welcome the opportunity to collaborate with world class talent.”
