MUMBAI: Mid-career lawyers are increasingly trading plush offices at big law firms or in-house legal departments of major companies for the uncertainty and potential upside of running their own law firms. In recent months, India's legal sector has seen a string of high-profile exits from top law firms and in-house positions, as a growing number of seasoned lawyers in their 30s and 40s are opting for entrepreneurship over traditional partnership tracks.
In August, three former IC Universal Legal partners-Sambhav Ranka, Rowena De Sousa and Anita Jain-launched Aequitas Law Partners, a full-service firm in Mumbai.
Around the same time, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas partner Akshay Jeet Bhat and Prasad Subramanyan, former head of legal at venture capital firm Z47 (erstwhile Matrix Partners India), teamed up to launch a boutique law firm, First Principles Law, in Bengaluru. Last month, Vyapak Desai, head of international arbitration and dispute resolution at Nishith Desai Associates (NDA), also started his own chamber. NDA's dispute resolution practice head in Delhi, Alipak Banerjee, has instituted Alipak Banerjee Law Chambers.
"There exists a substantial gap between current client requirements, which are constantly evolving due to changing business models and technologies, and the support provided by the legal ecosystem, advocacy before courts/tribunals and the judicial process," said Desai. In July, Dhrupad Vaghani, a co-founder of boutique firm Lex Aeterna Practices, left to set up Anchorstone Legal along with a group of his team members. Lee Ignatius, cofounder of search firm Vahura, said lawyers at this stage value independence.
"They are young enough to hustle but seasoned enough to win client trust," said Ignatius. "Also, newer companies and smaller corporations are not as brand-conscious. They want someone who is accessible and who can bring fresh ideas into play. This part of the market is a sweet spot for mid-career lawyers who are itching to do things a little differently." Industry observers believe this wave of exits marks a generational inflection point in India's legal practice. The proliferation of startup clients, increasing complexity of cross-border deals and disputes, and growing regulatory scrutiny are all creating opportunities for agile, tech-forward and hands-on legal practices.
"I realised that there is a lot to contribute to the sector in which I served as a leading player for about two decades," said Lokanath P Kar, founder of law firm ElpeeCo. "External dependence of businesses for legal services has been shrinking over time due to the tangible gap created by contemporary demand and conventional supply."
"There exists a lot of scope for innovation to the extent of creating a demand and serving to it, or, for that matter, getting deeper into the ecosystem of businesses to equip oneself for contributing to a business on matters where expectation from a lawyer is the least," said Kar.
In August, three former IC Universal Legal partners-Sambhav Ranka, Rowena De Sousa and Anita Jain-launched Aequitas Law Partners, a full-service firm in Mumbai.
Around the same time, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas partner Akshay Jeet Bhat and Prasad Subramanyan, former head of legal at venture capital firm Z47 (erstwhile Matrix Partners India), teamed up to launch a boutique law firm, First Principles Law, in Bengaluru. Last month, Vyapak Desai, head of international arbitration and dispute resolution at Nishith Desai Associates (NDA), also started his own chamber. NDA's dispute resolution practice head in Delhi, Alipak Banerjee, has instituted Alipak Banerjee Law Chambers.
"There exists a substantial gap between current client requirements, which are constantly evolving due to changing business models and technologies, and the support provided by the legal ecosystem, advocacy before courts/tribunals and the judicial process," said Desai. In July, Dhrupad Vaghani, a co-founder of boutique firm Lex Aeterna Practices, left to set up Anchorstone Legal along with a group of his team members. Lee Ignatius, cofounder of search firm Vahura, said lawyers at this stage value independence.
"They are young enough to hustle but seasoned enough to win client trust," said Ignatius. "Also, newer companies and smaller corporations are not as brand-conscious. They want someone who is accessible and who can bring fresh ideas into play. This part of the market is a sweet spot for mid-career lawyers who are itching to do things a little differently." Industry observers believe this wave of exits marks a generational inflection point in India's legal practice. The proliferation of startup clients, increasing complexity of cross-border deals and disputes, and growing regulatory scrutiny are all creating opportunities for agile, tech-forward and hands-on legal practices.
"I realised that there is a lot to contribute to the sector in which I served as a leading player for about two decades," said Lokanath P Kar, founder of law firm ElpeeCo. "External dependence of businesses for legal services has been shrinking over time due to the tangible gap created by contemporary demand and conventional supply."
"There exists a lot of scope for innovation to the extent of creating a demand and serving to it, or, for that matter, getting deeper into the ecosystem of businesses to equip oneself for contributing to a business on matters where expectation from a lawyer is the least," said Kar.
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