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Is India a success story because or in spite of democracy? Compared to China, for example, hundreds if not thousands of different vested interests have made Indian reform painfully slow, if not impossible.
But in the legal sector someone is clearly trying to force a leapfrog.
The beginning of the week got off to a slow start as opposition parties called a national strike (Bharat bandh) to protest the fuel price hike. In Bangalore, Mumbai and Kolkata many streets were deserted.
By contrast Tamil Nadu, which was largely unaffected by the bandh, was comparatively active.
For a firm that first made its name as a capital markets boutique, the fact that that S&R Associates did not have an office in India's financial capital was always glaring.
The current law minister has talked often about cutting the backlog of cases in India, perhaps more consistently than many before him.
The Monsoon has been welcome where it has hit but the real floodgates apparently opened this week with the publication of the Gazette of India, which contained the notification of the Bar Council of India's (BCI) resolution to hold an all-India bar exam.
Legally India has published the results of the first open starting salary survey across 17 Indian law firms this week, as AZB, Trilegal and Wadia Ghandy hiked their basic starting remuneration packages.
The figures at the top are good and if salaries keep growing at current rates how much would foreign firms realistically be able to exceed these by if they were to set up shop in India?
There was a brief but heavy 4am pre-Monsoon shower in Mumbai on Tuesday morning but the real storm was faced by the Bar Council of India (BCI) this week.
Almost exactly one year ago Legally India's first newsletter issue, Exciting Times, made its way out of and across India. Fifty issues later, much has changed but legally the Indian market remains as exciting as ever.
Indian legal education finds itself at a pivotal time, with repercussions beyond just the student community. Yesterday, a number of NUJS Kolkata final year students led by professor Shamnad Basheer petitioned the Bar Council of India (BCI) to postpone the new bar exam until 2011, instead of holding it in August as originally envisaged.
Today, in a surprise U-turn, the BCI has agreed to push back the exam to December 2010.
An inconclusive week, not dissimilar to the UK's hung parliament of today.
Not quite a hung election in the fight in important legal elections. While counting is for the Mumbai Bar Councli is expected to conclude later tonight, while literally just in, the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) has officially elected Ram Jethmalani as its new president.
Meanwhile, India's eyes - even those of non-lawyers - were firmly fixed on two of the most important court decisions of this year.
It's official at the Supreme Court: India's next Chief Justice will be S H Kapadia and the apex court will welcome its first female judge in four years. About time.
Few things showcase the globalisation of India's legal industry more than this week's volcano eruption in Iceland, which kept at least three Indian managing partners best known by their first names out of India and stuck in New York.
The Bar Council of India (BCI) has a new chairman.
Unusually, this time the BCI did not select someone from amongst their elected midst but opted for ex-officio BCI member and solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam. The SG has ambitious plans such as the introduction of an Indian bar exam.
But for foreign firms hoping for a change in breeze with a new administration, the forecast remains uncomfortable. Much like Delhi and Mumbai's heat at the moment.
Convention has it that the start of the financial year is an exciting time for senior associates.
With no good reason to break with convention, Amarchand Mangaldas, Khaitan & Co and Luthra & Luthra gave the nod to three lawyers each to join the partnerships.
Only little Foolishness at the start of this financial year.
Khaitan & Co hired a total of three specialist lateral partners: banking & finance from White & Case, infrastructure from JSA and absorbing a TMT boutique. The firm has also promoted three of its associates to partnership (see LegallyIndia.com on Monday for the full story).
It’s just not cricket, folks. Or is it? With the Indian Premier League (IPL) in full swing lawyers have been busy getting in on the action (and that does not just mean enjoying live cricket games with clients).
Luthra & Luthra and Titus & Co chalked up tournament batting and fielding records in the Delhi SILF law firm mini-IPL. (Hotly debated at 50 comments and counting - a century beckons again with finals this weekend!)
As the end of the accounting year draws near, money begins to increasingly matter.
Amarchand Mangaldas is already sure of a record turnover year and has paid fee-earners solid bonuses. But it is not the only one.
This week's newspaper headlines were dominated by the passage of the 14 year-old Women's Reservation Bill, which finally cleared its first hurdle shortly after International Women's Day.
Students may complain about the fees of some private law schools but in reality even national law schools are not the most socially representative places either.
The Common Law Admissions Test (CLAT) rewards cramming and paid preparation courses with a place in India's legal ivy leagues. Those from less well-off backgrounds or rural areas often struggle to clear that hurdle.