The top 100 Indian companies are set to spend an estimated $479m (Rs 2,200 crores) in legal fees of which half will be billed by foreign firms, predicts an analyst report on the Indian legal market.
The Tata Group's estimated legal spend topped the list with around $50m in annual fees, followed by Essar Group with $15m and Wipro with $12m, states the report by UK legal consultancy RSG Consulting.
According to the report's estimates of rising in-house legal spend, the Indian legal market spend will reach $1bn in three years, with 82 per cent out of 60 companies expecting an increase in legal spend in the next five years.
Out of the other companies surveyed, M&M has an estimated $5m legal spend, ICICI Bank $3m, ADAG $9m, WNS Holdings and Gammon India at $1m each, and IL&FS and 3i Infotech at $0.5m each.
The report also stated that the majority of Indian law firms planned 300 to 500 per cent growth over the coming three to five years.
The total global legal market is estimated to be worth around $250bn.
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Are there new rankings for 2010?
[Yes, it is a new report for 2010. We will update with more details shortly. -Kian]
I would assume Kian is not going to cover this considering he has been very careful not to report rankings/ awards published elsewhere previousy. Is this some kind of policy decision that legallyindia has taken? To not publish Chambers, Legal 500 or IFLR Rankings and Awards? Is legallyindia planning to come out with its own set of firm profiles and/or rankings?
We will cover the findings of the RSG report in more detail soon.
One reason we do not cover awards is partly because there is such a large number of rankings, reports and awards that it is very difficult to draw the line at which is worth covering and which is not - we get a good number of emails from award organisers asking for coverage.
Second, the majority of awards, rankings and awards are not very good. For Legally India to report that Award X has decided that Y is the best law firm in India is a little meaningless.
Each Award has its own methodology and credibility and some are better than others, which is hard to evaluate without being part of the judging process.
Also, personally I feel that most established law firm rankings and awards are just not very interesting or enlightening.
I hope that kind of content is not too sorely missed but please let me know if you really want to read about it and will consider.
Best regards,
Kian
Yet, I would imagine that the time has come for legallyindia to give some sense to its readership as to who it considers as the leading firms in India - I'm not sure how you can achieve this - but the fact is you should? You are here on the ground - you speak to people in the Indian market everyday. You are probably better qualified to rank firms than most of these other organizations. So go for t. Stick your neck out a bit, maybe? Piss off a few Managing Partners, maybe? I look forward to some serious analysis of what you have made of the law firm market over the course of the last year!
The answer to your question is complex and is firm specific.
In respect of Tier 3 firms well they dnt charge so much and dnt have the big names above so accordingly they divide a smaller pie.
Just compare the first year associate salaries with anybody graduating from a basic graduate course like engineering (ya include IIT!!!!), arts or any other subject you will see the difference. Mind you i am not talking of post graduate level education.
Further SAs and PAs make enuf to book duplexs and civics with only 5 to 7 years of experience again in a tier 1 and tier 2 firm.
Well we cannot expect firms to make ppl overnite millionaires.
- associates may have hefty student loans
- associates are expected to maintain a good wardrobe
- most have to pay rent in Delhi / Mumbai like cities
- after so much effort and expenses, and after spending long hours in office, a good salary boosts the mood (at times).
- junior associates generate at least 3-4 times the amount they are paid (even if they bill 3-5 hours daily).
All this talk about lawyer-salaries being obscene is really sad. We are always the devils, regardless of jurisdiction. And our salaries are considered obscene. A good law degree is as good as a good MBA degree. So if MBAs can command fat paychecks, why can’t lawyers? And other professionals like CAs etc. (at big four accounting firms) are also making big bucks. So why is there a notion that our retainerships are "obscene in the field of professional services"?
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