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Chennai is as welcoming as Bangalore. People's perception is that it's a Tamil only city. That is not the case anymore.
But it is very lucrative and attractive.
Amarchands tried best - and they could never suceed in Chennai. Like they did in Bangalore.
Khaitan? Chennai office is basically a Local Tamil law firm called Assentio Legal. It's more like an association than a real office.
JSA had a presence but it's mostly Chennai local lawyers who joined them. Recently CLA (A local corporate law firm) joined JSA in Chennai.
LKS is the only national practice with a good Chennai presence that's because LKS Management is fully Tamil. LKS is a Tamil firm.
Chennai legal market will continue to grow forever. But only Tamil Nadu lawyers can work. National practices can maximum have associations.
One big reason is Language AND Culture.
If you look at any tier 1 firms Bangalore office - people from across the country that too from TOP tier national law universities work.
In Bangalore tier 1 offices - hardly any kannad (local language) is spoken it's mostly English and Hindi and less than 30% of people are kannadi people. Most are from south india but you can see a lot of people from north.
But if you go to Chennai - 90% lawyers are from Tamil Nadu. Maybe few Kerala or Andhra people (even they will be born and brought up in Chennai) will be here and there. Language of business is also mostly Tamil.
You would not see top NLU folks working in Chennai law firms (compared to bangalore) Mostly Chennai law firms, they hire from Sastra, GLCs in Chennai and nowadays from NLU in Tiruchirappalli. Bangalore teams hire from across the country. Chennai teams - rarely outside these three law colleges.
Chennai corporate bar is a local bar. It's not diverse. For someone from outside it's really difficult to make a legal career in Chennai.
I have seen lot of bengalis, up walas, Rajasthanis becoming top corporate lawyers (in house and firms) in bangalore. Without even knowing the local language. But have never seen the same in Chennai.
Many Chennai companies outsources corporate legal work to Bangalore, Mumbai firms.
Chennai as a city has a lot of future. But if you are a national practice or non Tamil looking to establish yourself it's hard. Not impossible.
Everyone does this undercutting business.
PQE 3
Also any leads on the partners in hyderabad and bangalore for corporate?