50+ small and mid-size Indian law firms you should know about. By Rebecca Abraham
As any in-house lawyer will know, hiring an external legal adviser in India is often more about finding a lawyer who can deliver than about the firm where they work. This is because some of the India’s finest legal minds, whose expertise and experience is well attuned to the challenges of India, are to be found in smaller firms that dot the legal landscape. With this in mind, discerning clients often look beyond the big-name law firms.
In this report, India Business Law Journal presents information on more than 50 small and mid-size law firms that prospective clients and referral partners would do well to know about. India benefits from a rich and diverse legal market and it is only right that the spotlight be turned on these firms, which are listed here in alphabetical order, along with the location of their only or principal office.
Abhay Nevagi & Associates
This 26-lawyer full-service firm began in 2001 as an employment law specialist firm that offered litigation and advisory services. When assisting in litigation, managing partner Abhay S Nevagi says the firm endeavours to provide practical and cost-effective solutions to enable a mutual settlement that benefits all parties “instead of opting for an all-out legal battle”.
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The firm’s biggest clients are Dow Chemical (International), Lavasa Corporation and Claridges SEZ Developers. Abhay Nevagi & Associates recently represented Mytrah Energy (India) as it sought to protect its intellectual property rights in technical data generated by wind masts belonging to the company or its sister companies, which were being used to seek grid connectivity approvals from Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company.
Aggarwal Associates
This 12-lawyer IP boutique headed by RK Aggarwal recently assisted Yonex, a Japanese manufacturer of badminton racquets, in obtaining an injunction from Delhi High Court against an importer of badminton racquets that used deceptively similar design, colour combinations and trademark. This was achieved despite Yonex not having registered its trademarks in India.
Aggarwal Associates prides itself on working “to cut short unnecessary litigation and unwanted steps so that it is always cost effective for the client” and providing clients with timely updates and input. The firm counts the Harvard Corporation, which is one of the university’s two governing boards, US defence contractor Raytheon and Amazon Technologies among its clients.
Alpha Partners
This 10-lawyer corporate and commercial law firm is headed by Akshat Pande and Ankit Prasad and based in Noida outside Delhi. Its clients include Eko India Financial Services, which it recently assisted in applying to the Reserve Bank of India for a licence to set up a payments bank. The RBI is yet to announce a decision on the application.
Other clients include Apeejay Surendra Park Hotels, Jaypee Group, and International Amusement, which owns India’s first amusement park Appu Ghar. The firm reports that it “aspires to adopt the lock step model” and that it has been able to retain its core team of lawyers. Alpha Partners has an IP rights practice.
Altacit Global
Headed by Sudhir Ravindran, this 25-lawyer firm began as an IP boutique but has since developed corporate, real estate and franchising practices.
It reports that it has recently been working with several start-up companies, which it finds to be “the most interesting”.
Yet its top clients include companies with long histories such as Rane Group, an auto components manufacturer that was started in 1929; Cholayil Group, a maker of Ayurveda-based products; and Watanmal, a fast-moving consumer goods group in West and Central Africa with a 100-year history. Based in Chennai, Altacit Global also has offices in Bangalore, Coimbatore and Hyderabad.
Archer & Angel
This 32-lawyer firm describes itself as “young, but experienced”. Headed by Sanjay Chhabra, it prides itself on its open-door policy that promotes free exchange of ideas among lawyers and ensures that clients receive “a concerted team-effort”.
Archer & Angel has recently advised clients on complying with anti-corruption Iaws and on preventing sexual harassment of women in the workplace. The firm’s clients include Hewlett-Packard and Yum! Brands. Archer & Angel is based in New Delhi and has offices in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai.
Headed by Piyush Joshi, this firm specializes in infrastructure project development, project finance, project disputes, international laws pertaining to trade and investment, and climate change-related laws.
Clients include the developer of a liquefied natural gas terminal at Mundra Port in Gujarat and the developer of what is to be India’s first floating, storage and regasification unit. The 10-lawyer firm says it “is advising and representing the government of India” at the WTO panel proceedings in the dispute initiated by the US regarding solar cells and modules.
DGS Associates
This 15-lawyer full-service firm takes pride in having an “unmatched diverse talent pool” for a firm of its size, which can offer services “at a fraction of a price of big firms”. Partners Ameeta V Duggal, Niti Sudhakar and Bhumesh Verma share its management responsibilities.
Verma reports that the firm represented three Korean, one Vietnamese and two Chinese companies in an investigation by the Directorate General of Safeguards, on safeguard duty imposed under the Customs Tariff Act, 1975. The firm also represented clients, including two Samsung companies, in an anti-dumping investigation by the Directorate General Anti-dumping and Allied Duties. The firm’s top clients include Posco (for anti-dumping work), Victorinox India (for corporate-commercial work) and Çelebi Group of Turkey (for civil aviation sector-related work). DGS Associates has an office in Guwahati in Assam.
Dinesh D Tiwari & Associates
This 10-lawyer litigation firm with an active criminal and civil law practice says it has represented “a number of top corporate houses”, including the Reliance group and an Essar group company. The head of the firm, Dinesh D Tiwari, reports that he is currently the special public prosecutor in a prosecution of former partners and other officers of KPMG (India).
Finsec Law Advisors
This 10-lawyer firm specializes in financial services matters with special emphasis on securities markets and domestic and cross-border investments. “While we don’t do everything for everyone, what we do, we do with both depth and breadth of knowledge and experience,” says managing partner Sandeep Parekh. He reports that Finsec has advised on takeovers of listed companies (such as Sun Pharma’s takeover of Ranbaxy), setting up a stock exchange, and defending an Indian broker from action by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Most of the firm’s clients are located within one square kilometre in the financial heart of Mumbai. They range from multinational heavyweights such as Goldman Sachs and Citibank to small investment advisers and brokers.
Gandhi & Associates
This 10-lawyer firm serves clients such as US Polo Association, Qualcomm, Cisco, Versace and Avis. “We usually focus on cross-border transactions both inbound and outbound,” says its principal lawyer, Vishal Gandhi, who takes pride in having built up the firm without any “legacy clients”.
The firm has a corporate, IP and tax practice, which Gandhi describes as “a lethal combination”. Gandhi has arbitration experience and has also worked on several private equity and venture capital deals. Who are the firm’s top clients? Gandhi says he considers all his clients as his top clients.
Hreem Legal
Set up in 2014 by Ashish Porwal, and based in Noida outside Delhi, Hreem Legal describes itself as “sector agnostic”, yet well equipped to advise clients operating in diverse sectors such as infrastructure, real estate and trading. The six-lawyer firm recently advised a newly formed housing finance company on laws and issues relating to the informal housing sector, which Porwal says was “not just another regular commercial assignment but a complete project in itself having a genuine social perspective”.
The firm put together a “very unique and innovative transaction structure” when it recently worked with a client that operates in a closely regulated sector and was looking to raise foreign direct investment. Hreem Legal is opening an office in Pune.
Indialaw
This full-service firm headed by KP Sreejith has 11 offices across India and one in Dubai. It prides itself on providing clients real-time updates on assignments through its customized enterprise resource planning software. The firm’s clients include 12 Tata Group companies, Hewlett-Packard, Hindustan Unilever, Burger King, Fedex, Nike, Standard Chartered Bank, Vodafone, Reliance, Johnson & Johnson, Siemens and Larsen & Toubro.
Indialaw has 110 lawyers including seven at its office in Dubai.
In Se Legal
In Se Legal is headed by Shalini Aggarwal, a former partner at Clasis Law and before that at ALMT Legal. The firm has an office in New Delhi but its main base is in London and it prides itself on offering Indian legal services in London “at highly competitive Indian rates”. The firm takes on lawyers as and when required for a specific project.
Aggarwal says In Se Legal’s most interesting and challenging work has involved “finding clients pragmatic solutions to sticky problems”. The firm has been working with a multinational financial company on the winding up and transfer of employees of a unit in India; a leading US publishing house working its way through a dismissal case; and a UK retail company defending itself against a lawsuit.
IP Markets
This boutique IP rights firm, headed by Ashok Ram Kumar, has worked with both start-ups and mid-sized companies. It specializes also in information technology laws.
Kumar reports that the firm obtained a contested decree within six months of filing for it in district courts in Vijayawada. In another recent case an order was secured after IP Markets’ lawyers persuaded the court to allow a trademark infringement suit to be filed at the place where the infringing products were being sold.
Juris Legal
This 12-lawyer firm, headed by Rupin Pawha, reports it has “very specialized knowledge and experience in mining in general and the upstream oil and gas sector in particular”. Pawha says the firm has advised on transactions involving UK-listed oil majors and in diverse jurisdictions in Africa and the Middle East, as well as in India.
Juris Legal has been appointed by the government of Karnataka to assist in documentation for auction by competitive bidding for licences to operate 15 iron ore mines that had been closed following an order of the Supreme Court.
Kaden Boriss
Headed by Hemant Batra, the Kaden Boriss office in Gurgaon assisted in the takeover of a company engaged in the environment sustainability business. The acquisition was done through a “novel business model” that involved a pyramid-like management structure based on the shareholding of individual promoters. In another matter, the firm advised a client on establishing a nationwide distributorship network, where distributors’ incentives were translated into stock options.
Clients include OCP, a global fertilizer company; DO & CO, an Austrian catering company; Olam Agro India, a commodities player; and Bayer BioScience.
Kanth & Associates
This 21-lawyer full-service firm, headed by Gaurang Kanth, successfully represented India – the Ministry of Sports and the National Anti-Doping Agency – in its first arbitration before the international Court of Arbitration for Sport. Using its expertise in labour and employment laws, the firm also represented Air India SATS (a ground handling service provider at major Indian airports) in Delhi High Court against striking workers at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi.
Top clients include Pink City Expressway, a company engaged in developing, financing, designing, engineering, operating and upgrading an existing highway south of Delhi.
Kapoor & Co Law Offices
Headed by Rishi Kapoor, this firm reports that it represents clients such as Samsung Electronics, Dell International Services India, Schneider Electric, Nestlé and Hitachi. Kapoor leads an active litigation practice and represents clients before courts and other dispute resolution forums.
Khurana & Khurana
This boutique IP firm, based in Noida outside Delhi, boasts 4,000 clients, including Halliburton, Google, Xiaomi, Glenmark, Cipla, Piramal, ABB and Emerson. The eight-year-old 30-lawyer firm, headed by Tarun Khurana, focuses on domestic clients for its growth. It recently opened an office in Mumbai and has offices also in Bangalore and Pune.
Khurana & Khurana has links with IIPRD, an IP consulting and licensing firm, through which it can license and also commercialize technologies that it protects, thereby providing “end-to-end protection”. The firm has been handling a domain name dispute for WinRAR, a data compression tool, in India.
LawQuest
This immigration and employment law specialist firm, headed by Poorvi Chothani, has a global immigration practice. Chothani, who is licensed to practice also in England & Wales and New York, reports that they “regularly get senior-level expatriates out of sticky immigration situations in India” and also assist Indian nationals who encounter complicated immigration issues when they move abroad.
Clients include Serco Global Services, a global business process outsourcing provider; and Cox & Kings, a leading travel company with headquarters in Mumbai and offices in 26 countries. Other clients include a Boston-based international consulting firm that has a global network of offices, a global security and aerospace company, and a joint venture in the defence, aerospace, aero-structures and national security sectors. LawQuest has offices also in New York and Bangalore.
Lawyers at Work
This six-lawyer firm founded in 2012 by Talha Salaria, a former partner at MMB Legal in Bangalore, says it has “extensive experience in the start-up ecosphere” and is “very active in the e-commerce space”. Its clients include a listed telecom services company, an AIM-listed fund with focused investments in the infrastructure sector in India, and a large human resources company.
Unusually for a corporate law firm, Lawyers at Work also offers estate planning services to private clients and says that it has been recently “implementing complex structures in relation to estate planning”.
This 28-lawyer firm, headed by Gagan Anand, has advised development projects in sectors such as highways, education and transportation. It is advising on a highways project in Kenya that is using a public-private partnership model, which is a first for the country. The firm’s top clients include Accenture, Ernst & Young and Deloitte.
LegaLogic Consulting
This 40-lawyer firm was set up in 2013 by Vivek Sadhale, a former general counsel of Persistent Systems. Sadhale says that most of those working at the firm have similar in-house lawyer credentials so they understand what companies need. “We come without the baggage of law firms, and are very relevant to the corporate requirements.”
Lawyers at the firm recently “played a very strategic part” during the divestment of a promoter’s stake in a company. The firm’s clients include Persistent Systems, Emergys Corp and Zycus Infotech.
Lexcellence
Nitin Sen, who heads this firm, says it has a set of long-standing clients for which it acts as a “family doctor”. The firm handles all legal work for these clients, including regulatory or compliance-related work, human resources, documentation, contracts and litigation. “These elements enhance daily efficiency, allow delivery of targeted and need-based legal services and provide a wholesome, long-term perspective.”
The firm prides itself on its “understated, academic approach”. It does not work with templates, preferring instead to “prepare each draft or court papers afresh and from a clean slate”.
Lex Favios
This 15-lawyer full-service firm headed by Sumes Dewan is a recent addition to the market. Dewan reports that the firm was involved in an acquisition of a public unlisted housing finance company that required the acquisition of another public unlisted housing company, which had been dormant and needed governmental approval before being revived.
The firm is also working on a business transfer and merger transaction that will see an Indian company being merged with an overseas company. Its top clients include Samsung, General Motors India and Intercontinental Group of Hotels. Lex Favios has an office in Mumbai.
LEXport
Srinivas Kotni, founder and managing partner, describes LEXport as a “boutique law firm” that specializes in international trade, indirect taxation, corporate and commercial law, litigation, intellectual property rights and compliance. The firm has 20 lawyers and an office in Bangalore. Hero MotoCorp, HCL Infosystems and Honeywell India are among its top clients.
Kotni says the firm regularly handles litigation matters for an automobile major and also advises it on day-to-day issues related to indirect taxes. “We have handled a few cases in last couple of months where the stakes were massive.”
Lexygen
One of four Indian firms with a licence to practise foreign law in Singapore, Lexygen prides itself on “providing business-centric advice to our clients tempered with pragmatism, coupled with innovative solutions to complex issues”. Partner Prashant Kataria says the firm has “around 15 lawyers” and, while none of the lawyers is permanently based in Singapore, they visit regularly.
Lexygen recently represented NewQuest Capital Partners in its investment in Ujjivan Financial Services, a leading microfinance company in India. Private equity and venture capital fund formation is an important practice area. The firm’s top clients include Norwest Venture Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Sycamore Ventures, Changi Airports International and Bright Horizons.
MDP & Partners
This 26-lawyer full-service firm, headed by Ashok Paranjpe and Nishit Dhruva, reports that it is empanelled with around 15 banks.
The firm recently advised a large Indian real estate group that was caught up in a dispute before Bombay High Court in which a foreign investor was seeking to invoke a guarantee issued in its favour. As foreign investors cannot directly invest in the real estate business in India, the firm advised the client that the guarantee was not enforceable. Judgment in the matter is pending. MDP & Partners was also counsel to an Indian bank in an aircraft finance matter.
The firm is the only member in India of Galexy International, a worldwide alliance of 20 independent commercial law firms located in over 16 countries.
MMB Legal
According to Mahesh Madan Bhat, who heads this firm, it has “a combination of experienced lawyers with backgrounds in various legal fields, which is a blend of the conservative and entrepreneurial”. The firm recently assisted Universal Sportsbiz, a company that sells celebrity memorabilia, in launching the brand Wrogn, which is promoted and endorsed by one of India’s leading cricketers, Virat Kohli.
Other clients include Bengaluru Football Club (promoted by the JSW Group); Goli Vada Pav, a Mumbai-based chain of restaurants; and Zurich Airport, which the firm advises on India-related airport legal requirements.
Mohan Associates
This 10-lawyer IP boutique, led by Arun Mohan, takes pride in having established a “particularly strong” presence before the Intellectual Property Appellate Board. Mohan reports that the firm has “started to focus on appearing before the Competition Commission of India and has appeared in various high-stake litigations particularly on aspects touching upon intellectual property law”.
The firm recently appeared successfully for Rajinikanth, a prominent Indian actor, in a landmark case which saw Madras High Court lay down a precedent for establishing and recognizing celebrity rights in India. Sun Pharma, Eicher Group and Bajaj are three of the firm’s top clients.
MPC Legal
Partner Aseem Chawla says lawyers at this firm consciously “endeavour to provide clear solutions” and, given that the firm is a tax specialist, this is laudable. MPC Legal recently advised the US tax litigation team of a multinational which has a significant presence in the US, on transfer pricing matters relating to intangibles. Chawla reports that lawyers at the 15-lawyer firm applied basic principles of law and valuation to the underlying peculiar facts to assist the team in arguing the matter before the US Internal Revenue Service. “This experience gave us enough confidence and reinforced our belief that if one were to stick to basic principles, the enduring results are bound to follow.”
MT Miskita & Company
This 13-lawyer real estate specialist firm says its expertise extends to developments, substantial aggregations of agricultural lands, townships, information technology parks and slum rehabilitation projects.
The firm, which is headed by MM Miskita, takes pride in its “ability to provide personalized attention and a quick turnaround time, without sacrificing on the quality of its work”. It recently advised on a US$285 million sale of shares of a special purpose vehicle of Larsen & Toubro Realty to CSJ Infrastructure, which involved the transfer of a mixed use retail, office and entertainment development in Chandigarh. Kalpataru Group and Tata Realty and Infrastructure are other important clients.
Mundkur Law Partners
This 10-lawyer firm takes pride in working in diverse areas despite its small size. In addition the firm, led by Ramanand Mundkur, specializes in two niche practice areas: life sciences and health care, and education law.
The firm recently assisted a group of entrepreneurs in setting up an e-commerce business that will allow patients with chronic conditions to obtain their prescription medicines online. It also assisted an Indian client with its acquisition of a Turkish business from its Swiss owner. Other clients include DIL, Eyegear Optics, Fashionara Enterprises, Fireside Ventures Trust, Indulge Beverages, Inventure Academy, Jayanti Sa, Medela Hospitals, Srishti School of Art, Design & Technology, and United Spirits.
This business crime and dispute resolution specialist law firm, led by Zulfiquar Memon, prides itself on servicing “almost all” sectors and high net worth individuals on a variety of mandates.
The 10-lawyer firm reports that its strength primarily rests with its ability to aggressively and successfully pursue out-of-court settlement, which benefits clients facing delays in the Indian judicial system. MZM Legal recently advised a Singapore-based company on the arrest of one of its merchant vessels in Ahmedabad; a Saudi Arabia-based company in a fraud case involving Indian customers and agents; and an Indian company in criminal and civil proceedings against a former joint venture partner.
Nasikwala Law Office
This firm’s 10-lawyer team is complemented by a chartered accountant and an engineering technician. According to partner Freddy Daruwala, this holistic expertise enables the firm to address a client’s needs without sending documents out to an accountant or technical specialist. This approach gives the firm an edge in company winding-up petitions (involving in-depth analysis of a company’s financials), derivatives contracts, private equity funding, technical arbitrations, patent matters and tax-related matters.
The firm was recently involved in “a techno-commercial arbitration” for a corporate client that involved several complex technical aspects. The firm’s top clients include HDFC Bank, DBS Bank and Phoenix Real Estate.
P&C Legal
This firm, which is part of Bangalore-based Poovayya & Co, prides itself on its practical lawyering skills that assist clients in implementing and concluding transactions.
Partner Vishnu Jerome reports that the firm recently advised on a US$750 million bond issuance by Tata Motors, “which required nuanced interpretation of the issue process on account of changes brought in by the new Companies Act”. The firm’s top clients include Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Citibank and Deutsche Bank.
Pavan Duggal Associates
This niche technology law specialist firm advises on issues pertaining to the legalities of use of computers, computer systems, computer networks, computer resources and communication devices, as well as data and information in electronic form.
The firm recently advised a company whose corporate confidential information had been misused by unknown individuals. Pavan Duggal, who leads the firm, drafted a writ petition for Common Cause, which was one of 10 writ petitions that recently successfully challenged the validity of section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
Perfexio Legal
Sanjay Kumar, founder of this IP boutique firm in Noida, says it only represents innovation-based companies and believes that “changing side is no good for either of the sides”. Kumar says the firm carries out a strict conflict-of-interest check before accepting any matter.
Perfexio Legal’s clients include Bayer, which it acted for when Natco Pharma obtained what was India’s first compulsory licence for a drug in 2012. The firm has continued to work for Bayer, including when the company recently petitioned the Supreme Court on the legality of the compulsory licence.
Quest IP Attorneys
Essentially an IP firm, Quest IP Attorneys also provides non-IP-specific advisory, transactional and litigation services to clients.
Managing partner Shantanu Sood says that the firm “works on the knowledge that clients’ IP issues often spread into non-IP areas and, therefore, to provide effective and meaningful service to them, we have taken care to have the necessary expertise to handle such issues for them”. The firm’s clients include Asian Paints and IHHR Hospitality, which runs Ananda resorts in Uttarakhand.
Rattan Legal Associates
Based at the foothills of the Himalayas in the capital of Uttarakhand state, Rattan Legal Associates specializes in commercial and corporate law and has an infrastructure practice. Parminder Singh Rattan, one of two partners at the firm, says it has recently worked on some infrastructure and industrial matters.
The firm also works with individuals who wish to make investments in Uttarakhand. The firm’s clients include Daulat Ram Industries, Flex Foods and Bhalla Infrastructure.
RRG & Associates
This 20-lawyer firm, led by Ranjana Roy Gawai, specializes in corporate-commercial litigation and advisory. The firm has been representing Bharat Aluminum Company in a writ petition at Chhattisgarh High Court in Bilaspur challenging the state government’s refusal to grant it a mining lease.
Gawai says the firm helps clients “select the strategy that best suits its commercial objectives while taking into account the complexities of local jurisdictions and markets”.
Clients include members of the Vedanta Group of Companies (Sesa Sterlite, Vedanta Aluminium, Bharat Aluminium Company, Konkola Copper Mines), Jindal Steel & Power and Bhushan Steel.
Sarthak Advocates & Solicitors
This firm says it “blends its transactional experience with active role in public policy interventions” and has been invited by several parliamentary standing committees to depose on a range of bills in areas such as forward contracts regulation and consumer protection.
The two-partner firm, led by Abhishek Tripathi, is also empanelled with public sector undertakings such as Shipping Corporation of India and Engineers India, and partner Mani Gupta is empanelled with the Competition Commission of India. The firm recently advised the government of Maldives on a World Bank-funded roof-top solar power project.
The firm is also advising on a thermal power project in Senegal and advising Gill Acqua Hydro Power Generation on restructuring of existing loans and further funding from L&T Finance for approximately 10MW of canal-based small hydro power projects in Punjab.
Scriboard
This 15-lawyer full-service firm specializes in intellectual property, commercial law, technology, new media and telecommunication law, education training and allied services.
Partner Rodney D Ryder says the firm works extensively with the government of India and Fortune 500 companies. Scriboard advises the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the National Internet Exchange of India, and has also advised the Central Bureau of Investigation on internet security and cyber-crime. Corporate clients include Aon Hewitt, HT Media, Limited Brands, Schlumberger, Tata Motors, Indian Oil and Wells Fargo & Company.
Selvam & Selvam
This five-lawyer IP firm, headed by Raja Selvam, says it provides proactive advice “instead of merely following instructions”, which is important given the unique circumstances of India and situations that arise.
The firm reports that it recently worked on a challenging investigation into trademark infringement for an international client which had recently acquired a company. The infringer was selling a combination of goods acquired from the previous owner of the company and counterfeit products. Other clients include SCA, a personal care products company; and Ironman Triathlon, a long-distance triathlon race organized by the World Triathlon Corporation.
Shroff & Company
Describing itself as a “progressive multidisciplinary law firm … with a global client base”, this full-service firm is led by Prabhat Shroff and provides services to corporate clients, institutions and individuals.
Sieben IP
Jaya, the founder of this IP boutique, reports that it responds to “any IP request within a time limit of 30 minutes”. The three-lawyer firm recently persuaded the Patent Office in Delhi, which was not convinced that an invention met the novelty criteria, to look favourably at the application by providing evidence from a corresponding patent awarded by the Japanese patent office.
SK Singhi & Co
This 11-lawyer firm, which has a special focus on litigation, recently assisted a client involved in the real estate sector in a successful appeal against a trial court order that resulted in a project being left in limbo.
The firm, led by Surendra Kumar Singhi, also assisted in obtaining interim relief for another real estate client that had a land valuation dispute with municipal authorities in Kolkata. The matter is now before Calcutta High Court for adjudication. The firm’s clients include Saraf Group, Kolkata, Raf Group, Kolkata, Axis Bank and Union Bank of India. SK Singhi & Co also has an office in Delhi.
SKS Law Associates
This four-lawyer firm, led by Sunita K Sreedharan, is an IP boutique where teams are organized on a client basis rather than a subject basis. Sreedharan says this ensures that the firm can handhold the client from the laboratory to the market. The firm recently worked on a World Health Organization project, providing legal advice on the Biodiversity Act and its rules of 2014. Other clients include Stryker Global Technology Center, MSD Wellcome Trust Hilleman Labs and Ciena Corporation.
Solomon & Co
This full-service firm, founded over 100 years ago, has three offices in Mumbai and one in Pune. With over 50 lawyers the firm boasts an in-depth knowledge of Indian law and an ability “to translate that knowledge in an international context and work effectively with foreign clients”. Solomon & Co has French and Chinese language expertise and has teams working on high-value matters for large companies and others working on family property disputes.
The firm’s senior partner, Jonathan Solomon, is part of a three-member committee appointed by Bombay High Court to assist with the recovery of assets in a scandal involving the National Spot Exchange. The firm’s top clients include Larsen & Toubro, Jain Irrigation Systems and the Scholle-IPN group, which provides packaging solutions from multiple locations.
SU Shah & Associates
This full-service law firm, headed by Sameer Shah, is involved in a high-stake corporate fraud case for a Dubai-based client. Shah says the matter involves civil and criminal law, international arbitration, mediation and police authority. “The aim is to … set an example to foreign investors that they will get justice in India and that their investment is secured.”
Other clients include the Kotak Mahindra group of companies, Vodafone and Idea Cellular.
Sushant M Singh & Associates
This 10-lawyer IP firm aims to be a full-service firm. It reports that it is “gradually venturing into the fields of civil litigation, criminal litigation, arbitration, etc.”.
The firm recently represented a generics manufacturer in litigation triggered by the granting of a probiotic patent. The firm’s clients include Crompton Greaves, an Indian multinational company that designs, manufactures and markets products related to power generation, transmission and distribution; Dr Reckeweg, a German homeopathic medicine maker; and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories.
Unimarks Legal Solutions
This 14-lawyer firm, led by S Suresh Kumar, prides itself on being a “lean, vibrant and proven team of lawyers with strong academic credentials” and a “client first attitude”.
The firm has been working on trademark cancellation and oppositions filed in relation to Apple’s iPhone trademark on behalf of iVoice Ventures. Kumar reports that the firm’s legal team researched the matter “for years” before the filings and expects precedent-setting rulings in favour its client.
This 23-lawyer firm was founded less than six years ago to create a platform for legal excellence and foster an environment which promotes collaboration and not competition. Vidhii prides itself on being “built on the principle of sharing profits amongst every member of the firm”.
The firm has recently been advising two of its clients and their respective group companies on restructuring all their debts and liabilities. It has also been advising a hotel project on its defence against a hostile takeover under the debt recovery laws, and a controversial housing cooperative in Mumbai, Adarsh, on litigation relating to allotment of land, building permissions and consents, environmental clearances and criminal proceedings before a commission of inquiry, criminal courts, Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court of India. The firm routinely represents real estate companies, banks, financial institutions, asset reconstruction companies and hospitality companies.
Vutts & Associates
This firm, headed by Vaibhav Vutts, prides itself on maintaining simplicity in its approach to complex situations, and aims to ensure that each of its members can deal with clients independently.
The firm is currently acting for an Indian harrow disk blade manufacturer in a trademark infringement case. Other clients include Bharti Airtel, Sanovi Technologies and Poly Medicure.
As counsel to the International Trademark Association (INTA), amicus curiae in a dispute over tobacco plain packaging laws, the firm recently compiled a brief for submission to the dispute settlement panel of the World Trade Organization.
Vutts says the panel has accepted the brief and that this is the first time that INTA has filed a brief in a WTO dispute resolution proceeding.
Wakhariya & Wakhariya
This six-lawyer firm prides itself on its “international business-friendly style of advising, which is more easily understood by international general counsel”. Headed by Shabbir S Wakhariya, who has also been admitted as a lawyer in New York, the firm says it can help clients “better understand both jurisdictions and minimize their cost of engaging two lawyers in any multi-jurisdictional matter”.
The firm recently worked on a multi-jurisdictional litigation involving issues relating to Indian law, US federal and state law, and the Hague Convention.
Zeus Law
This 25-lawyer full-service corporate-commercial firm was established in 2005 by Vivek Kohli and Sunil Tyagi. Its clients include Fujitsu, Tata Motors, the Competition Commission of India, the Director General of Hydrocarbons, and the Smokeless Tobacco Federation of India.
The firm advises on diverse sectors such as real estate and infrastructure, telecoms, power, agro-based industries, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and fertilizers, entertainment and media, tourism, leisure and hospitality, wineries and tobacco, and says it has been “the preferred legal partner” of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India.
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