Interview with Jyoti Sagar and Berjis Desai, J. Sagar Associates
Publicado em 24/09/2012
Merit is enshrined, in letter and in spirit.
Jyoti Sagar and Berjis Desai. It is assumed that ‘Indian legal market’ means Indian law firms and excludes individual lawyers.
Indian law firms range from large (150 to 450 lawyers), medium (50 – 150) and small or boutique (10 – 50). Most large and medium firms have offices in Mumbai and New Delhi. All large firms also have an office in Bangalore. Specialist firms (IPR, shipping, real estate, taxation) are few. Others claim to be full service but usually exclude criminal law, rent control, industrial relation laws. Leading firms are more focussed on transactional work and less on dispute resolution, though this is fast changing with the increasing popularity of arbitrations. While no numbers are available, a guess estimate of the Indian legal market, in terms of annual revenue, would perhaps be is USD 400 – 500 million. The Indian legal market is not growing as fast as it was a couple of years back. New firms are rare.
L.L. What is your positioning in the Indian market?
JS BD. We have been consistently ranked as amongst the ‘first five’ Indian law firms, and most surveys, as also perception wise, rank us at No.3 nationwide.
Our best known practice areas are : Securities & Capital Markets, Dispute Resolution and Regulatory (particularly, the Power Sector).
L.L. How would you define your firm’s culture and what do you think is its value added?
JS BD. Out of all the large firms, ours is the only firm which is not family-controlled or controlled/owned by a dominant individual. We have a mandatory retirement age (60 – 65). We do not permit relatives at any level. Merit is enshrined, in letter and in spirit. Remuneration is performance related and differentials are the smallest in the industry. We have been consistently ranked as the best law firm to work at in independent international surveys. Our work culture is considered by peers and members of the firm “as happy and relaxed”. We do not aspire necessarily to be the largest but our vision is to be the finest Indian law firm.
Our unique structure in the Indian market has been appreciated as a truly egalitarian firm.
L.L. Could you describe your firm’s principal achievements over the past three years?
JS BD. Over the past three years, both our top and bottom-line have grown impressively despite the economic slowdown. We have successfully structured the firm into eight distinct practice areas and follow strict practice area discipline. Recently, we have been rated as the ‘best dispute resolution firm’. We have handled several high profile cases.
L.L. Did the economic crisis force you to adapt your strategy? How?
JS BD. Due to our emphasis on regulatory practice and dispute resolution, we continue to grow even though M&A, private equity and capital markets have appreciably slowed. Hence, we have not been required to make any change in approach or strategy.
L.L. Which are the high-growth sectors in India?
JS BD. The high-growth sectors in India over the next 5 to 10 years are domestic and international arbitrations, M&A, private equity, Securities and Projects.