RESEARCH APPROACH
The research to compile this report consisted of fieldwork in India and the UK, extensive face to face interviewing as well as telephone interviews, online surveys and analysis of available sources and desk research. All face to face interviews and conversations were carried out by Reena SenGupta and RSG Consulting’s senior consultants. The research approach combined both market research society approved research methods as well as an investigative journalism approach. In total RSG Consulting contacted 55 Indian law firms and over 300 purchasers of legal services.
CLIENTS
RSG Consulting received feedback from over 300 Indian legal service purchasers, of whom approximately half were Indian based companies and half foreign companies active in India. 25% of client contacts were General Counsel and the remaining 75% were CEO, CFO or Managing Director. The sample group of companies includes:
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7 of the top 10 and 17 of the top 50 largest banks globally
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45 Global Fortune 500 companies
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6 of the top 10 and 63 of the ET 500 Indian Companies
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Clients from the following sectors in order of representation: banking & finance, healthcare, biotech and pharmaceuticals, industrial and manufacturing, energy & power, telecoms, IT, consumer goods, diversified, media, professional services and aviation.
The RSG Consulting research team conducted telephone interviews with over 100 Indian and foreign clients with business activities in India, about 40 of these were done face to face. Clients were asked about their company’s legal function, size and spend, how they purchased legal services, outward bound work and the legal advisers they used. Interviews last 30 minutes on average.
190 clients completed an online client review scorecard on the Indian law firms they used, rating the firms on aspects of their service delivery, quality, expertise, commerciality, professionalism and leadership as well as firm bandwidth, challenges and areas of satisfaction.
A further 35 clients provided phone or email referees for individual lawyers.
INDIAN LAW FIRMS
RSG Consulting vetted 47 law firms through interview at the law firm offices and conducted telephone interviews with another 8 law firms. All law firm claims were verified in client interviews or through desk research. For the RSG top 40 ranking, law firms were scored according to:
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Quality: performance on deals tables for M&A, project finance, private equity and capital markets by both value and volume for the past 12 months and past 3 years; feedback from clients on quality of work, expertise and service delivery
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Profile: total mentions and qualitative feedback from clients, Indian lawyers and foreign lawyers, with greater weight given to unprompted recommendations
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Capability: size of law firm by number of lawyers and estimated turnover, capability by practice area and locations, feedback from clients on ability to handle large scale work and firm bandwidth
RSG Consulting also met with junior partners and associates at the top law firms and interviewed 35 ‘Second Generation’ M&A lawyers. Client referees were sourced and contacted for every lawyer included in the final ‘Second Generation’ report.
DESK RESEARCH
Qualitative findings were verified and additional data sourced through desk research. The RSG Consulting team analysed deals tables performance for the past 3 years and 12 months on Mergermarket, cross-referenced all the directory rankings covering the Indian market (Chambers & Partners Asia, 2008, Legal 500, PLC Which Lawyers, IFLR 1000) and press sources (Economic Times of India, Asian Legal Business, India Business Law Journal, India Today, international press).
CURRENCIES
US dollars ($) are used as the standard currency throughout the report.
Exchange rates:
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Deals: RSG used the historical exchange rate at date of completion.
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For other analyses, RSG have converted at the average interbank rate for 2009:
US$1 = Rs 48.4
Indian currency:
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1 lakh rupees = 100,000 rupees (approximately $2,000)
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1 crore rupees = 10,000,000 rupees (approximately $200,000
