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Its success suggests that building a leading law firm is not just about assembling star lawyers or landing marquee mandates. It is also about creating a structure that supports collaboration, rewards performance, and sustains long-term growth. Trilegal’s lockstep-oriented and broad-based equity model has often been seen as central to its culture and internal cohesion.
The firm’s journey also reflects a larger shift in the Indian legal sector: from founder-centric practices to more system-driven institutions. In that sense, Trilegal did not just become successful within the existing framework, it helped demonstrate that there could be a different framework altogether.
Whether that template can be replicated at other firms is a separate question. But Trilegal has certainly shown that ownership design, governance philosophy, and institutional culture can be as important as legal capability in building an elite Indian law firm.
Trilegal is definitely a step ahead of the la la firms in terms of profit sharing, but that's about it. "Governance philosophy" and "institutional culture" are only buzzwords at the firm, as it follows the same model as every other firm where the team's partner controls everything within their team. The associate sitting at the desk next to me faced a very different governance philosophy and culture (much better to be honest – they used to leave on time everyday) solely because they were in a different team.
Yes, Trilegal does spend the most on its associates compared to every other firm, and the difference in office quality is palpable. But Trilegal's primary benefits are felt at the partner level (and might be a disadvantage for rainmakers in fact - see NKU), and associate life is not very different from other firms.
I will admit one thing Trilegal has done well is adopt great enterprise tech. The Lucio investment is a bit of a flop within the firm, but our Microsoft system kicks Citrix's ass every day of the week