No major deals? I disagree brother!

I think they dominate Competition, Projects (along with us), and even Cap Markets these days. They are always representing someone in M&A deals involving major Investors. My friend works at Tri and claims he has seen the firm bill obnoxious amounts of dollars to its foreign clients for transactions in which the Indian leg was insignificant.

They are not gambling their own money by introducing higher pay bands and hiring aggressively these days, there is an apparent need for resources. They do not need to do all such things as people would still be willing to work with them even if it was paying at par with SCAM or even Indus.

Yes, lateral hiring and the inherent human nature of wanting to outdo other Partners at Trilegal will at some stage get to them. Laterals also mean that certain practices/culture which are legacy of previously worked lala firms will also plague Trilegal. The ROLEX story (lala legacy/pressure to outdo others) and the boys club stories (Trilegal legacy) are already widely known. More such stories will come out. Unfortunately for Trilegal folks, there is only so much money (high salaries) can buy and for long term sustainability Trilegal will have to cleanse new hires of legacy culture issues, manage conflict and resentment of dealing with internal ambition of its home grown lawyers and take any punches that the lala firms throw back (all of whom seem to be unhappy with Trilegal raiding their lawyers and clients).

Not at all, Trilegal's expansion will have far-reaching positive consequences for itself. Induction of new partners doesn't necessarily translate into the availability of more labour but also opens up the possibility of soliciting new clients. Partners aren't cost centres, they're revenue centres. Lalas will have a hard time trying to keep up with trilegal.

Slightly early to say this but after recent influx of laterals and block partner hirings, I believe we would also see exits in a couple of years, since it's difficult to believe that all the partners would be pulling in revenues. Typically haven't seen much attrition at partner level at Trilegal and that's something which may change. They also need to see how the internal talent has clear growth path and very clearly communicate to them about assuring them about lateral hirings not impacting their growth, backed with actions. Else, Internal exits would be another pain point to manage. While I'm sure this is something which the leadership would be aware and addressing, the rumblings of discontent are there. So let's see. Next 3 years would be interesting for them.

Seems like every other person (probably from Lala firms) wants Trilegal to fail. Not the first such thread I have seen after they increase the pay of their associates.

I don't think Trilegal is going to implode so easily. However, they need better PR. It's very evident.

And Lala firms people should instead be more interested in treating their lawyers well and should match Trilegal's pay structure.

What most other law firms won't tell you is that since the last major hikes in 2016-17, there has been significant increase in revenues. Family run firms have kept the money to themselves, so Trilegal pay seems high in comparison. At the risk of sounding very old, reminiscing of the good old days of SAM where lawyers were paid an obscene amount straight out of college with a vehicle allowance and whatnot. To match that, inflation adjusted, A0s should be making around 2.25 a month, which is a far cry from what even Trilegal pays.

Look at yesteryear firms like JSA that didn't keep up with pay hikes. Their folks are leaving in droves and they're hiring en masse from tier 2/3 firms at a low pay scale.

There's plenty of work in the market. Our laws are more complicated than ever, investment interest in India remains high and there's simply no dearth of work for firms.

Well the increase in revenues is not on account of increase in fee rates but on account of head count growth. Infact profitability margins have been coming down. Therefore, while the Lala and top equity partners still get to take home more as compared to a few years back because of the growth in gross revenue due to growth in headcount and therefore growth in net profit, the levels haven’t really moved up for associates, retained partners and fresh equity partners. Where Trilegal is different is that because of there being no Lala and the top equity partners having caps on their profit entitlement, the increase in net profit above the equity partner caps devolves upon people down the food chain. In KCO similarly it is rumoured that the managing partner has capped his take home earnings. In all other firms it’s the Lala who has been growing his profit on headcount growth, while everyone remains stagnant due to stagnant billing rates. Any place where the promoter/ promoter family controls more than 10-12 percent, can never offer equitable compensation to its talent. Nowhere in the developed world, does one person/ one family get to take the lion’s share of profit in a professional services firm. Unless the promoters shed their equity in favour of their partners and leave part equity on the table to remunerate their talent down the food chain better, the best partners and the best associates will keep gravitating to Trilegal and others who are able to pay better. Unfortunately, the promoters are used to earning a certain sum every year and growing their earnings at a certain rate every year. Until they realise that their ways of earning disproportionate money is leading to a decline of their firms nothing will change. As of now, they’re all hoping that Trilegal is a bubble which will burst in due course. The market needs Trilegal to succeed (and foreign law firms to be permitted to come in).

Growth in fee rate is also very much a factor. Most major clients are billed in dollars and the conversation rate has shot through the roof in the last decade, beating inflation by 2x if not more. Equity holders are making more money now than ever before. If true trickle down economics were at play, every law firm would pay like Trilegal, but partners are a selfish breed.