Sometimes i wonder about the source of all these articles.. is it just talkin to few ppl in few firms who may be friends or ppl who want to be friends with the publishers for sheer cravings for publicity.

its good that on one hand gossip about corp law firms in India is being circulated in one forum rather than calling ppl in your fraternity to ask of 'the latest goss!!". however, as a forum, i am sorry to say it just lacks any sanctity. as it stands now, it looks like the site is promoting a few ppl and what those few ppl would like to promote.

Anonymous - thank you for your feedback.

The fact remains that at the moment most large headline-grabbing transactions are handled by a relatively small group of law firms.

However, we endeavour to diversify our coverage in the coming weeks.

And if you ever hear anything on the grapevine that you think would be worth investigating, we would welcome you getting in touch with us any time.

We always treat all correspondence in the strictest confidence.

Best regards,
Kian Ganz, editor, LegallyIndia.com

Good work Kian, Yes these are starting days for this great website and the sources will be people who are following it up but I see no difference in this and UK based websites that report on transactions. All firms try to get publicity ofr their work and there is nothing wrong in it.

for starters.. publicity of law firms and lawyers is not permissible in this country. So that is the first thing which is wrong as this amounts to surrogate advertisements.

Secondly, i am not sure Kian, both legally and ethically, would want to promote any such surrogate advertisements through his website.

thirdly, my point was not related to a big law firm v. small law firm. it was based on simply on the content of the information. some of the information as is the case in all gossips are not true. so my point was whether the publishers are checking their stories with more than one source or are relying on information provided to them by the same source again and again. if this continues, it would harm the site more than anyone else.

and lastly, with respect to comparisons with sites like thelawyer.com, where kian comes from, i'm sure he would know there is a lot of difference between indian and london markets. in india, there is a select few firms and owned and controlled by select few ppl. So the perception and the news what is spread in media is always is in the interest of those select few. Whereas the london market is more evolved where media has led to sacking of partners in recent times. so my point in this case is whether the site intends to promote the existing hegemony or intends to break the shackles and approach fresh views on how indian law firms operate. It should not turn out to be yet another promotional campaign of the few priviliged ones who wine and dine with the publishers.

Sorry to stand up once agin for this website. I agree with most of what anonymous says about the monopoly of few Indian firms. However unless there will be websites like these how will information come out in the open? If this website reports something wrong then please correct it. it is the same rule for all press in free societies.
And this is surely not advertisement or publicity by any stretch. I like your views on Indian firms but was disappointed by your reading of news reports as surrogate advertisement. Surely in this Internet age calling such news report as surrogate advertisement just does not sound correct.

Anonymous, presumably you mean that one is not allowed to publish any stories that
involve "X" law firm being instructed by "X" company in case it's perceived
as good news and therefore a surrogate advertisement?

Bad news all the way then and not a balanced news site at all.

Good luck with that Kian!

The English legal press has often been a thorn in the side of some English firms but the transparency it brought has also encouraged the English legal profession to improve.

E.g. career progression, equal opportunities, CSR, etc.

Dear Reader

Thank you for your comment; you raise some interesting points.

First off, I can assure you that all stories we publish are fact checked with as many different sources as reasonably possible and necessary.

Second, I can promise you that Legally India is editorially completely independent and will always remain so. We will never publish stories on the basis of "wining and dining", as you put it, or in exchange for payment.

Legally India exists neither to serve hegemonies nor to "break shackles". Ultimately, we aim to report and comment on the news that we discover or receive in a balanced and intelligent manner.

While reading about the "select few" is by its very definition often of greater interest to the average reader than reading about the unknown masses, please take a look at a selection of our past stories. You will find a fair number about smaller firms, some of which have only started up recently.

I assure you, there will be many more to come and we are also working hard at widening our coverage – please help us and get in touch with us, if we have not contacted you already.

Finally, the fact will always remain that some firms are better at dealing with the press than others. This is not advertising, it is called public relations, but I appreciate that with some publications there can be a fine line between the two.

I am confident that Legally India will always be aware of that line and draw it very clearly.

I would also like to sincerely thank all readers for all your support and feedback to date, it is all noted and much appreciated.

Best regards,
Kian Ganz, editor, LegallyIndia.com

The only think which LegallyIndia should keep in mind that the Indian market is very different from that of London. Things are more organised in London and lawyers/law firms are more open to press.

Also in India, the law firms are handled by families and there are very few partners in that. So there is not much news of lawyers coming and going from the law firm.

The best think LegallyIndia should do is to concentrate a little more on litigation side also. Providing news only about Corporate Law Firms will create an impression that it is doing only surrogate advertising.

Goolam Vahanvati has been appointed as the Attorney General and the site doesn't even mentions about it. Gopal Subramanium is in the race for Solicitor General, there is no mention to it.

A lot of scandals in judiciary are coming to light but the site doesn't concentrate on that.

Indian lawyers are also very much interested in juicy news from courts and not only the news from the law firms. The editor should take a note of it.

Dear Anonymous,

You appear to nurse a private grouse against the "big" law firms.

I am an associate in one of the bigger law firms in India (that is not family owned) and quite frankly, i could not disagree with you more heartily.

Being someone who used to follow lawyer.com quite regularly (if only for the international "goss"), I, for one, think that Legally India is doing a wonderful job of reporting things and is a much needed development here. My only regret perhaps is that Kian chose to do it so late - still, better late than never I suppose!

As far as your post below goes, I cannot help but wonder if your suggestions are somewhat hastily concieved and not completely thought out. 'Concentrate on the litigation side' - surely, you are joking. Do you even know how many litigators there are in India??? I am certain that no one in their right minds wil suggest that people should go out and even try to get information updates on all or any respectable number of them? As far as big ticket items are concerned, I am sure legally india will do more than a fine job of reporting those - do give them some time to ramp things up!!!

As far as surrogate advertising goes, I suppose next you will be asking the national press to not report anything done by the government as that may be considred surrogate advertising by the UPA/ Congress!!!

Kian - One request for you. Could you please arrange for this comment box to be enlarged a bit? Its quite nightmarish to type anything substantial in its current form!

[ed: Many thanks for your words of encouragement and helpful suggestion. The comments box should now be much larger and we will continue doing our utmost to improve and keep bringing you better and more relevant content. Best regards, Kian Ganz, editor]