The three new entrants to Chambers firm rankings this year, by age, were 1.5-4 years as a firm. So at best, they are not more than one-third of the age of most of its lateral competitors according to the Chambers ranking. And yet it can get enough client referrals to show-off the feats below.
The youngest among these has clearly made its sweet little niche in Chambers through its niche focus on competition law where, in Band 4, it shares space with one ‘Big 7’ firm and two firms that have made their presence felt in the market for over a decade. The other new firm has given contest in the Corporate/M&A ‘highly regarded’ cadre to six other established competitors of over a decade old who also rank highly in league tables for their M&A deals. The founding partner and other partners at this firm come from rainmaking legacy at Big 7 and tier 1 firms that consistently rank highly on deal tables.
One other newly ranked firm has secured the Band 5 ranking for its private equity (PE) practice, alongside 11 other PE firms in that band, generally aged between 3-24 years. But two of them are also 123-year and 140-year-old historical legacy firms. Private Equity, as a practice, started catching hold of the global sector in the early 2000s (around the same time that specialist publications such as PEI media, etc. started printing). Eventually Indian first-movers caught on to it, and over the last 5-10 years, old school legacy company law firms have jumped onto the bandwagon as a practice rejuvenation tactic. Those firms have also won for practice areas such as banking and finance, dispute resolution, insolvency and restructuring, aviation, intellectual property, shipping, employment, white collar crime and corporate investigation, and competition law. But inking your name as an advisor on large PE deals looks like the preferred route strong transaction practices are taking to come into the mainstream, without Corporate India’s largest conglomerates on their list of clients.
Five of those firms are what this firm should aspire to next when it comes to its Corporate M&A practice. It is highly regarded, in Band 3, for Corporate M&A – sharing the distinction with three older firms in the same band, but falling behind five of its PE competitors. Those firms have won for that practice in higher bands and for a higher (Elite) category as well.
Five other firms stand out, of course, as practice giants in PE and Corporate M&A per the latest Chambers rankings: Desai & Diwanji, Quillon Partners, K Law, Samvad Partners and Dentons Link Legal are all Band 1 ‘highly regarded’ firms in Corporate/M&A. Three of these are also in Band 1 for PE, but one of these has exactly the same ranking for PE as the new entrant – Band 5. Other than the Octagenarian Desai & Diwanji, the others are young firms under 25 years of age.
One ‘Big 7’ firm that did not even rank for private equity Band 1 (but made it Band 2), acted on 3 of the 10 biggest private equity deals that took place in India this year (Temasek-Manipal Health, BPEA EQT-ChrysCapital, BPEA EQT-Indra IVF).
Of course the “Elite” firms for Corporate M&A are the undisputed absolute leaders for years: AZB & Partners, Khaitan & Co, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, Trilegal – all Band 1 Elite firms. The relatively newer arrival (as compared to this list) Phoenix Legal is the other ‘Elite’ firm in this practice area, but in Band 4. The “Big 7” league participant that is missing from a Corporate/M&A ranking is JSA, which leads with its projects, infra and energy practice.
Four other firms in this year’s list, showcased comparable fireworks last year, when they broke into Chambers firm rankings for the first time.
Source: Barandbench
