PANGEA3 PRE-PLACEMENT TALK

Date: 29.7.2011

Time: 12.00 PM

Venue: Video Conferencing Room, Dr. Madhu Limaye Library, RMLNLU

Speakers: Mr. Varun Kedia, Senior Manager, Pangea3

Ms. Mandeep Kaur, Senior Executive, HR Department, Pangea3

The Pre-Placement Talk and interaction with the 5^th year batch started with a video, with which Mr. Varun Kedia proceeded to introduce Pangea3 to the students. The video divided the various functions of an employee at the LPO into departments: including Litigation Services, Corporate Services and Intellectual Property Law. Mr. Kedia commenced his interaction with a very fundamental issue, which set the ambience for the entire meeting. “What do you understand by LPO as an industry?” At the outset it was settled that the meeting was not to be a monotonous monologue but an interactive and lively session with questions pouring in from the students, and all doubts regarding LPOs as a viable career option being cleared.

Pangea3, founded by Mr. Sanjay Kamlani and Mr. David Perla- batchmates at the University of Pennsylvania- was represented in the form of a constantly evolving LPO firm, with an impressive growth rate. Headquartered at New York and at Nariman Point in Mumbai, it is presently developing its branches in several cities including Delhi and Bangalore, along with a tentative branch at Chandigarh.  Some of the statistics and data regarding the LPO show it to be the best firm for Legal Process Outsourcing in India. Some of its achievements are:

• Acquired by Thomson Reuters in 2008
  • Health, Media, Tax and Accounting Experts
  • Presence in 100+ countries
  • 57000+ employees in 2010
  • International offices at New York, Chicago and Boston
  • India Business Law Journal’s LPO of the Year- 2009, 2010
  • Top 10 in the Black Book of Outsourcing
  • Currently 575+ lawyers strong
  • Inc. 500/5000 – fastest growing companies in the US

In a planned manner, Mr. Kedia set out to explain the evolution of LPOs in India. He departmentalised an LPO into Back, Middle and Front Offices, explaining the functions and expectations from employees in each of these departments. To a pertinent question from Mr. Srijan Shrey Singh, as to “whether any training would be provided to the associates in foreign legal systems”, Mr. Kedia replied that in work like drafting and management of contracts no US laws would be required, whereas in the case of litigation, research and compliance- where foreign legal training is required, Pangea3 has a team of trained lawyers who impart training to the associates. As to the second concern raised, “whether the work atmosphere and situation has changed at Pangea3 after acquisition by Thomson Reuters”, Mr. Kedia strongly denied any changes, except an added advantage through brand name. To Mr. Raghav Kumar Singh’s question, “how are the growth prospects in an LPO compare to a law firm?”, he answered that the growth prospects were building up day-by-day, and he supported his view with the help of statistics. Earlier, lawyers would opt for devilling under a senior advocate rather than going for a law firm. The few who invested in law firms during the times when there was less support was such ventures, fared very well as the corporate law firm sector boomed- so much so, that tables were actually turned in the favour of firms. Mr. Kedia predicted a similar transition from law firms to LPOs, especially after captive units of foreign law firms enter the Indian legal market, and seek people trained in their work culture.

Ms. Suvarna Kashyap raised the question, as to “whether there is sufficient job security in LPOs during recession.” It was quite an enlightening experience to find that LPOs actually grow during recession, as US and UK corporations outsource legal processes in order to reduce costs. Mr. Kedia backed up his point by stating that the present size of LPO business is 1450 crore and it is expected to grow to 4500 crore in the next 5 years. Also, the LPO sector has a total business capacity of $ 24 bn, with the present business accounting for only 1-2% of this figure- signifying space for growth.

One of the most interesting questions that came up was “what are the challenges facing the LPO sector?” Mr. Kedia replied, very truly, that the difficulty, alike any new venture, was “to make people believe.” Slowly this problem is being overcome with more business pouring into LPOs.

Pangea3 offered the following options to the students, depending on their preference:

• Corporate litigation
• Governance, risk and compliance division (including legal research, business intelligence checks and legal due diligence checks

Pangea3 has an impressive array of clientele including the following noteworthy MNCs:

• CocaCola
• GE
• Sony
• American Express

Pangea3 follows a “GROW” policy- with each designation earmarked with certain generic expectations and goals, which, when fulfilled, entitles the employee to be eligible for a promotion. There is also an attractive proposition of working in major client corporations abroad.

The compensation awarded to the employees was estimated to be around 6 lac p.a. at the associate level along with medical coverage and accidental insurance packages.

To top it all, Pangea3 also offers employees direct client contact, where, in the case of students interested in pursuing higher education abroad, recommendation of the clients could prove to be very persuasive in admission in foreign universities. This added bonus could come as a boon in looking for an LL.M degree in some of the best foreign universities, including the Ivy League colleges.

The firm finally selected four students: Raghav Kumar Singh, Srijan Shrey Singh, Arpita Goswami, Siddharth Singh, after Group Discussion, Personal Interview and Online Test on English and Legal Reasoning.