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Indian law firms are developing new areas of practice, from forensic intelligence to artificial intelligence (AI) and from blockchain to defense, to keep up with the evolution of the nature of businesses and the resulting changes in law.
In December, a law firm based in Jaipur Capstone Legal linked with the technological society of Washington Knovos develop the practice of electronic discovery (E-Discovery) in India. This generally refers to the discovery in legal proceedings such as litigation and government investigations, in which the requested information is in electronic format.
In November, a law firm based in Mumbai SNG and partners entered a United Kingdom-based joint venture Carnoustie consultants and IIRIS Consultants to develop the practice of the Global Risk Control Alliance (GRCA), which will help the company to venture into forensic areas, legal investigation and security.
The growing complexity of businesses is not reflecting changes in legal structures and national law firms are trying to reach new areas of practice to keep up with their peers. New areas of practice forensic investigations and white-collar crime counseling have attracted many law firms following the alleged fraud of over $ 2 billion at the Punjab National Bank, as well as Andhra Bank's complaint about an alleged crore of over 5,000 dollars fraud by the promoters of Sterling Biotech.
"We intend to combine the skills and capabilities of our partners with other specialized suppliers and create the infrastructure necessary to provide a fully integrated service within the main platform," said Rajesh Narain Gupta, managing partner of SNG & Partners. "With the Carnoustie alliance, we are providing integrated risk management plans and we offer risk mitigation solutions for businesses to help them operate more efficiently."
Traditional brick and mortar practices, including litigation, M & A and business consulting, continue to bring the lion's share of revenue. However, the strong competition from rival law firms and the decrease in the dependence of client companies from external law firms with the help of internal legal departments, cast a shadow over revenue growth from traditional areas. The new areas of practice, on the other hand, are almost virgin territories that can help create new revenue streams from the same customers. They can also be a magnet for new customers, which can then be crossed with other products.
Ritvik Lukose, co-founder and chief executive officer of Vahura, a research and consulting firm for legal talent, has declared business in new areas of practice, such as the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), the legal crime, the white-collar crime and start-up advice with a specific focus on AI, machine learning (ML) and robotics, is seeing some growth. In terms of vertical sectors, law firms are optimistic about life sciences as well as media and entertainment. "We are witnessing the request of non-lawyers, including economists, white collar experts and forensics experts, which was not the case a couple of years ago," Lukose said.
Many law firms are also developing investigations into legal crime and white-collar crime, which are typically a pillar for audit and advisory firms, as areas of practice. Leading law firms, including Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, AZB & Partners, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co and DSK Legal, have also developed separate legal teams leading experts in consulting firms, including EY and Grant Thornton or various government investigative agencies. .
Interestingly, Nishith Desai and Associates, a company that is considered a pioneer in the development of different areas of new-age practice, including blockchain, AI and robotics, has a separate vertical called disruptive technology practice, driven by Huzefa Tavawalla.
The media and entertainment industry has seen massive investments in recent years. The emergence of the best platforms, which allow the display of video content on smartphones, and the entry of numerous foreign firms have opened the sector to law firms.
Likewise, IBC is a merger of almost all aspects of traditional law practice, such as litigation, banking, M & A and competition law and companies are developing this practice as a set of multiple tips.
Ashish K. Singh, founder of the law firm Capstone Legal, said that the company has developed a specialized practice in e-discovery of documents that has a use in forensic investigations, internal investigations, arbitrations and big-ticket litigation. "We have a specialized team of four lawyers in the studio to handle issues related to e-discovery.The company is using a technology-assisted document review that includes artificial intelligence," Singh said.
Likewise, the ELP law firm established defense counseling as a new area of practice. "India is ready to be one of the biggest military equipment proctors in the world.With the" Make In India "initiative, many of our customers are looking at this space.We currently have a team of six people in the practice area, including an industry expert, "said Suhail Nathani, managing partner of ELP. "To develop any area of practice, you need to have industry expertise along with lawyers who come from relevant areas of practice." Defense practice complements our tax, trade and business offers in this space, "said Nathani.
Indian listed companies have spent a total of around Rs33.941 (over $ 4.7 billion) crore on legal and professional costs in the 2018 financial year, according to data compiled by Capitaline. This is 5.6% (crore of Rs32.132) higher than in the previous year. However, law firms are now forced to look at new and specialized ways of practice. Until a few years ago, competition, antitrust and environmental practices were considered niche practices. However, these areas have become so large that no law firm is considered a full-fledged company without these areas of practice. Most law firms focus on similar future business opportunities from AI, ML, blockchain, media and entertainment.
This article was published for the first time on livemint.com
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