Shalini Agarwal, formerly a partner at Clasis Law, has left the firm and established her own law firm, In Se Legal. Agarwal said she wanted to foster a wider range of international relationships, focus on her employment law expertise and serve a broader range of clients.
“I found that a lot of my international relationships could not blossom,” Agarwal told India Business Law Journal. “Obviously, the relationship we had with Clyde & Co was good, but given that my own practice areas were not strictly in one of their indusrial verticals, I felt my general practice would really flourish if I worked with a host of UK and international law firms.”
In Se Legal will function as an Indian law firm, but equally as a consultancy to offer clients a complete legal and business solution. “I’m really excited about this … I’m also working closely with a lot of UK and European-based institutions that help small and medium enterprises find their feet on the ground in India.”
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Agarwal intends to keep operations lean at In Se, which means “in itself”. She has no plans diversify her practice areas and hopes this will keep her pricing competitive. Instead, she will hand-pick legal advisers, buying in the services from lateral practices whenever necessary and sharing the returns.
Agarwal is enthusiastic about making time to conduct workshops and executive briefings while catering to companies of all sizes and believes the smaller scale of her operations will give her the option to invest more time in building personal relationships with clients. “I’m not saying larger firms don’t do it – they do and they have to. But at larger law firms, there comes a point in time where you have to call time on what you’re doing if it’s not converting to dollars.”
Prior to launching her own firm, Agarwal was instrumental in setting up Clasis Law and before that ALMT Legal. Before establishing ALMT Legal, she worked at Singhania & Co.
Talking about her choice to leave Clasis Law, Agarwal said, “It’s completely my decision and I think it’s really great for me and my clients. I have the highest regard for Sakate [Khaitan], my colleague in London, and will continue to have that regard for him personally. I loved doing what I did with Clasis. But I decided to take a leap of faith because if not now, then when?”
Following her departure, Khaitan said, “We are grateful to Shalini for her contribution to the growth and establishment of Clasis Law. We wish her the very best for her future endeavours.”
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