What about GS?? Mukul Rohtagi makes it to the list and GS does not??

Utter tosh 4 and 5! You can't say there is no skill and serious intelligence required in transactional law and high-level complex structuring and negotiations of transactions. Come on.

The problem is that its hard to compare apples and oranges like this because they both do v different things.

Interesting.
What about T.R. Andhiyarijuna?
Supremely Respected. Very picky about the work and experience to put many to shame.
Keshavananda Bharti, I.R. Coelho, Kerala Education society...you name it, he's been there.

or are we measuring wealth and charges too?

Sure, corporate lawyering requires great skill - an ability to understand regulatory risk, highlight transactional issues etc. and I concede that a competent BigLaw Partner would probably be more adept at this than a litigating lawyer. But the fact remains that at the end of day, the dudes who interpret the law, and come up with phenomenal legal arguments (which is the true test of legal acumen) are the litigating lawyers. And, this aside, frankly India's biggest and best corporate lawyers aren't really all that impressive - they are competent yes, but if you want a legal opinion on a tricky issue - wouldn't you rather go to the dudes on this list than one of the managing partners of India's big law firms?

A lawyering is not all about representing big corporate houses in multi million dollar deals. It is also about human rights and interpretation of the constitutional limitations on the authorities who decide the way we live and work or even die. This where the litigators come in; for their deliberation on the law is not limited only to facilitating a smooth walk for a big corporate house. Court room advocacy is more fundamental and therefore more glamorous leave aside the fees that some of the top litigators charge. Corporate lawyers apply the law as has been interpreted decided by the Courts/Tribunals on the basis of brilliant arguments advanced by the litigators and even the test of the corporate lawyer's work is whether the advice or a document survives judicial scrutiny in a court of law. No doubt corporate law firms are required to be ethical, responsible and are also much more hardworking than many litigators but you cannot take away anything from the litigators who help shape the law and the judicial administration in India. Thats why I fully support ToI on the list; though off course choices may differ depending upon personal experience and other attributes.

Also another point for submission. TOI is a mainstream newspaper. Law firms are an alien commodity to the people in general who mainly identify the advocates as practioners of the profession of law in this country. If the publisher were a financial newspaper with the financial/business community as its primary readers then it would definitely have listed the top dealmakers/corporate lawyers.

Dear Mr Kian Ganz,
With all due respect Sir please refer to his similar kind of ranking of U.K lawyers by TIME magazine available at I would like to quote from the same article which has provided the ranking of lawyers "There is no business lawyer in the Top Ten — which reflects the panel’s view that unlike their US counterparts who are often leading voices on social or policy issues, no City lawyer had a broad enough influence to be in the Top Ten". Similar is the position in India the position of Corporate Lawyer is India relatively to the U.S position is very weak. I agree that Shroff nd Modi have a big say in policy matters but numerically they count very less. While drafting economic policies also Govt seeks for advise from these Top lawyers only i.e Palkiwala was never corp but he was revered for his expertise in financial laws. I tend to disapprove the notion the Corp lawyers or transaction lawyers are less capable or something like that but my whole argument is based on a primary assumption that the position of corp law in India is relatively weaker than other jurisdiction. For example at present my friends in law school might be knowing that there are very few Indian legal scholars who are dedicated to Corp law n India. The legal scholarship dedicated to corp law is at very niche stage i.e the only name for a corp law scholar comes to my mind and who is most visible in the respective feild Umakanth. So there are certain lacunae in the present legal frame which needs to be addressed and I think ur blog is an initial step to that direction. Btw I felt that if corp lawyers should have been added that why dont we refer to Prof Upendra baxi's name also that guy was also invited to hold a position as a SC judge though he refused as he though joining Warwick mite turn out to be a better option. Also I agree with you that still we have a very cliched notion of lawyering which refers to court work only. We need to expand both the scope and relevance of lawyering but that has begin from law school. I think iin major law schools there is a huge problem in India that ppl are not interested in law but to get in Amarchand nd have a charming life. i agree that most of the ppl in law school r from humble background nd cannot afford nething else but those who r not r still afraid to venture out or to diversify. In law school ppl r more aware Shroff than their corp law teacher or the book. I agree knowing abt shroff might provide a major incentives in life but there are other avenues also which one can venture. the scope of Corp law has always been limited law firms but i would suggest that if a person is really interested in that particular subject he can venture in I Banks, Consultancy firms, IFC World Bank or ne renowned research think tanks which can provide both more economic intellectual incentive to neone. But as usual we tend to confuse between Shroffs nd Modi's with Corp law.

Cheers

Hey all,

This list may be "Top Recognised Lawyers" but not at all "Top Lawyers". I agree with Kian that lawyers in Law firms ( my list..like Rahul Matthan, Shradul Shroff, Jyoti Sagar) are equally good. Some of the lawyers in the TOI list don't deserve the mention.

Hahahaha Ram Jethmalani?????????? Oh TOI Kid us not! [...] He delivered a lecture in a well reputed Law College in Mumbai only to [talk] about hindus and hindutva! [...] ;-)

It is ridiculous and exceedingly self-indulgent to think that a true lawyer is one who argues in court (not said in so many words but almost). A complete lack of attention to involvement of corporate lawyers (used here for the sake of ease of reference) to law making, committees, working groups, every business deal made in the country can be attributed to either ignorance or some form of self serving bias. I am not saying corporate lawyers are more important, or gifted or generally, better than litigating lawyers but I do have a problem with the overzealous efforts made by a large number (making no reference to makority) of litigating lawyers to glorify their area of practice by trying to paint corporate work as a money-minting activity. I can say grapes are sour but then, it's really about to each his own.

That being said, a huge "ha-ha" to the reference to the 'charming life' of law firms. It's a long way to the top and it takes hard work, be it litigation or making partner in a law firm.

To end the debate (or start a new one), India's top 10 corporate lawyers:
1. Zia Mody;
2. Cyril Shroff;
3. Sandeep Bhagat;
4. Nishith Desai;
5. M.P. Bharucha;
6. Somasekhar Sundaresan;
7. Bahram Vakil;
8. Sanjay Asher;
9. Anand Prasad; and
10. Shobhan Thakore

and ya who are you again...???

#33 - heavy bias towards bombay lawyers!!

i think jyoti sagar, rajiv luthra, shardul shroff should find mention in the list as well