Legal technology consultant and (Cyril) Amarchand alumnus Eshan Sharma, has joined AZB & Partners on 2 April as its chief operating officer (COO).
Sharma is a 2011 NLSIU Bangalore graduate who had begun his career as a lawyer with erstwhile Amarchand Mangaldas in 2011.
He commented: “From my own experience, lawyers’ requirements are very peculiar in nature when it comes to professional services organisations itself. I knew these pain points when I was a lawyer, and when I made the jump to the entire management side of things, it’s really helpful to understand.
“I could speak their language.”
In 2014, Sharma had moved to Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas’ so-called managing partners office in a strategy and business development role. In November 2016, he had moved to legal consultancy Rainmaker as head of technology and products, while also working as an independent legal technology consultant according to his Linked-in profile.
In a joint phone interview with Mumbai managing partner Zia Mody - who has famously always been more hands-on than most about law firm management - he joked that his role was also “to make Zia’s life happier”.
“No, I don’t care about that,” Mody promptly quipped in return.
So would Sharma’s joining mean that well-known night-owl Mody would not be sending out 3am management-related emails to lawyers anymore? “That’s exactly what we want,” responded Mody: “That Eshan takes charge, that he takes stock, that a system is put in place, that it becomes much more institutionalised, that everything becomes smoother, less aggravating.”
“Knowledge management takes on new meaning, IT support becomes more meaningful and responsive, and BD becomes more strategic,” noted Mody. “Basically, [Sharma is] to be really running the firm in all the areas that need running, other than the lawyering.”
“One of the objectives that Zia set out for me, is to ensure that the best practices are followed at AZB,” Sharma added. “The entire idea is to make a very happy place of working, to ensure that people are not running around, but they should have one point of contact that people should understand them.”
Mody noted that existing business functions would continue supporting fee-earners, such as the head of BD, head of HR, and so on. “What Ishan is looking to do, and what we’re all hoping, is to pull it all together, from one point of view plus of course it is invaluable for us that Eshan is a lawyer at the end of the day, so he understands that the paint points that are there for the lawyers, and pain points for the non-lawyers.”
His initial time would be spent meeting each department, all the practice heads and travelling to other offices, to get “a sense of what’s on the ground, and being thoughtful what’s needs to change, and what needs bolstering in certain areas”, said Mody.
Previously, between 2015 and 2017, AZB had ex-KPMG associate director Prabhanjan Dhotre as its COO. When he left in April 2017, someone else temporarily filled some of the COO functions until now, said Mody.
The big firms have all been taking COO roles seriously in the past years, such as Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas having hired former Mayer Brown JSM Asia COO Jennifer Milford in 2013, for instance.
And as we had reported in February, DSK Legal had hired former Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas director Padmini Rathore, as its chief operating officer (CEO), which can be a similar to COO in a law firm.
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good luck Ish.
Kian, you might want to do a law firm management professionals survey.
Obviously, not applicable for the entrepreneurial & having the own clientele and book of business kinds
And for the record, even in the next 10–15 years no Indian firm can compete with overseas firms. Whatever they do or say, their mentality is their biggest enemy. This no changing too, ever whether it’s the SCAM’s, LL, AZB etc. But you don’t live forever either ...things will change when you gone mate.
My sense is that he would mostly be a communications person or someone who would just monitor the support teams. Does one really expect the likes of Sai, Ashwath, etc to go by what he says?! ROFLMAO
Congratulations Eshan and best of luck! It seems that now there will be two [E/I]shans keeping the lights on at AZB House till the sun rises.
Scientifically this is a bad practise for the health of an individual. The brain requires rest and working till 3 am or full night/ early morning is a bad practise. Corporates, BPOs and Law Firms are following a wrong culture. It is aping the West. If the brain does not get adequate rest and sleep the mind gets cranky. That's why there is so much anger and fights and that's how the society suffers. I heard that in the Concentration Camps of Hitler, the slaves were not allowed to sleep, the intention being to crack them up.
Whoever says that they work till 2 am or 3 am are INEFFICIENT. They are staying late in office because they are greedy for money. They are not actually working but only showing that they are working. How is it even possible that you come to office at 9 am and till 3 am you are making RATIONAL decisions, everyday, 24×7, 365 days? It sets the wrong culture for everyone. Once in a while working late is ok. Employees who may want to go home because they have small kids, or aged parents, or other emergencies of personal nature are shamed by the so called late workers/sitters. I would rather ask the so called late workers/sitters to introspect. Maybe the late workers/sitters families are not very attached to them to want them home every evening but others families are! Anyways I have seen the late sitters only sit back to socialise and maybe hit a pub in the night and next morning they say they sat late till 2am.
It is time to stop glorifying the late workers. Those who genuinely work 24 hours under pressure also need to slow down. Some young lawyers dying is not good sign. Women get menopause at 35 which is also not good. Where are we heading and for what?
Everybody is good in their own place and its not cool to shame those who may not want to stay back till 2am. Maybe those who leave by 6pm or 7 pm are the real geniuses who can finish their work properly!
By the above logic the security guards who do double shift deserve maximum promotions and benefits. And the mosquitoes and flies under tables almost become like Green Card holders, they deserve even more.
Plus Zia is smart to know she needs young dynamic blood to run the firm & really make a sea change instead of old fossils the likes of which plague most tier 1 law firms.
(just kidding, dear budding solicitors... ;)
Learn to fix bulb fuse
Water bonzai plants to perfection
Register in and out time of everyone
Learn to catch rats
Well at least thats what the last COO's job description was!
Young boys are flexible & more adaptable than the older folks, so lage raho Esha bhai. No shame in fixing bulbs ya, if it rakes in the mollah :)
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