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RSG Law firm Rankings 2013:
Amarchand tops the chart; Khaitan
moves up to tie with AZB; Top firms
score lower on client satisfaction;
Smaller and Newer firms preferred
RSG, a London based research and consulting firm has come out with this year’s ranking for top 40 law firms in
the country and a report on the Indian law firms and the legal market.
Amarchand Mangaldas continues to top the law firm rankings followed by AZB & Partners, and Khaitan & Co,
both of whom are ranked second. J. Sagar Associates has been pushed down to the fourth position.
Over the last couple of years Khaitan & Co has moved up quite rapidly, giving serious competition to the top two
firms. Khaitan has scored higher than both Amarchand and AZB in client satisfaction. According to the RSG
report, in the sampling of 100 major clients chosen at random, Khaitan was the second most mentioned law firm,
reflecting the growth in the volume of work it handles. Another interesting aspect related to Khaitan & Co is the
fact that it has 57 Partners and 300 lawyer while Amarchand has 69 Partners and 600 lawyers.
Luthra & Luthra Law Offices maintains the same position at number five while Trilegal has dropped one position
and is ranked number six. Last year, Trilegal had ended their five-year referral agreement with magic circle law
firm, Allen & Overy.
Interestingly, Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan, Nishith Desai Associates, S&R Associates and Talwar Thakore &
Associates (TTA) are tied at the same position at number 7. TTA, Platinum Partners, Hemant Sahai Associates
(HSA) and Economic Laws Practice (ELP) have made a big jump this year and have moved up several notches
as compared to last year’s rankings. TTA has moved up from rank 19 to 7, Platinum from 19 to 11, HSA from 35
to 18, and ELP from 19 to 12.
The RSG report states, “Client satisfaction with the larger and more established law firms in India has dropped as
they struggle with the challenge of growth”, which is one of the most important observation of this Report.
Surprisingly, the top law firms; Amarchand, AZB and Luthra score 7.83, 7.84 and 7.79 respectively in client
satisfaction, while the newer firms S&R and Platinum score 8.93 each with Phoenix Legal scoring 9.33. Trilegal
scores the highest amongst the top six firms in client satisfaction with 8.55 points.
The Report states, “Availability, timeliness and budgeting were areas where the top firms often fell far behind
smaller and newer competitors in the eyes of clients.”
Foreign purchasers of legal services are beginning to drive changes in the law firm pecking order by instructing
smaller and newer firms such as S&R Associates, Platinum Partners and Phoenix Legal, according to the report.
Another big change that we can see in this year’s Rankings is that some of the prominent law firms have dropped
several places in the ranking chart. DSK legal, Bharucha & Partners, Crawford Bayley & Co and Dua Associates
have drastically moved down the order with smaller and newer firms taking the lead and making a place in the
middle order.
The report also states that firms with a specialist practice area focus like Nishith Desai Associates,
Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan, Vaish Associates Advocates, and Anand & Anand continue to do well in the
rankings.
The new entrants to the list are Link Legal, Singhania & Partners, Seth Dua & Associates, Krishnamurthy & Co (K
Law), and Mundkur Law Partners.
The report also states that the average partner growth for the top six law firms was 24% between 2011 and 2013
and the large law firms “grapple with maintaining client satisfaction as they undergo rapid growth”.
The RSG rankings are based on a total score of 40 including capacity, profile, quality of mandate and client
satisfaction derived from 35 different data sets, weighted and ranked based on RSG Consulting’s Top 40 Indian
Law Firms methodology.
2013
2013
RSG
RSG
CLIENT
TOTAL Number Number
PROFILE SATISFACTION
SCORE** of
of Total
Score
Score
Partners Lawyers
20112013 2011
2013
Firm
Rank Rank
Change
1
1
0
Amarchand & Mangaldas
Suresh A Shroff & Co
2
2
0
2
3
4
&
36
69
600
196
7.83
AZB & Partners
34
20
250
152
7.84
1
Khaitan & Co
34
57
300
130
8.14
3
-1
J Sagar Associates
30
50
240
70
8.06
5
5
0
Luthra & Luthra Law Offices
29
45
290
61
7.79
6
5
-1
Trilegal
28
20
150
58
8.55
7
10
3
Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan
27
28
120
6
9.05
7
8
1
Nishith Desai Associates
27
7
67
33
8.67
7
10
3
S&R Associates
27
7
42
18
8.93
7
19
12
Talwar Thakore & Associates
27
4
20
33
8.68
11
19
8
Platinum Partners
26
5
27
12
8.93
12
10
-2
Anand & Anand
25
13
84
13
8.15
12
8
-4
Desai & Diwanji
25
24
187
16
8.32
12
19
7
Economic Laws Practice
25
19
99
31
8.32
12
15
3
Wadia Ghandy & Co
25
27
155
27
8.38
16
31
15
Phoenix Legal
24
6
45
15
9.33
17
19
2
Vaish Associates Advocates
23
13
91
7
8.41
18
7
-11
DSK Legal
21
15
104
34
7.34
18
35
17
Hemant Sahai Associates
21
14
70
3
8.63
18
13
-5
Kochhar & Co
21
35
160
4
7.33
21
25
5
ALMT Legal
20
20
100
0
8.52
21
19
-1
Fox Mandal
20
30
250
6
7.98
21
13
-7
Mulla & Mulla & Craigie Blunt &
20
Caroe
14
100
19
7.92
24
31
8
DH Law
19
9
44
2
8.39
24
15
-8
Majmudar & Partners
19
10
60
2
8.07
24
25
2
Tatva Legal
19
12
65
7
7.75
27
15
-11
Bharucha & Partners
18
5
32
0
8.54
27
25
-1
Kanga & Co
18
12
50
5
9.25
27
28
2
Rajani & Associates
18
9
33
7
8.86
30
Link Legal
17
9
43
6
9.08
30
Singhania & Partners
17
12
65
0
8.37
Juris Corp
16
15
62
8
7.25
Seth Dua & Associates
16
9
30
2
8.62
IndusLaw
15
10
53
2
8.47
Krishnamurthy & Co (K Law)
15
5
70
4
9.01
Crawford Bayley & Co
14
17*
100*
18
5.58
Mundkur Law Partners
14
3
8
0
8.92
32
28
-4
32
34
35
1
34
36
15
-21
36
36
31
-5
P&A Law
14
1*
20*
0
9.09
39
19
-20
Dua Associates
13
40*
190*
4
8.58
39
39
0
Lexygen
13
3
12
2
7.72
*Headcount numbers based on RSG research and estimates. All other headcount figures supplied by the law
firms.
**TOTAL Score out of 40 is the sum of weighted and banded scores for CAPACITY (/10), PROFILE (/10),
QUALITY OF MANDATE (/10) and CLIENT SATISFACTION (/10). Scores against the four indicators are not
shown. They are derived from 35 different data sets, weighted and ranked based on RSG Consulting’s Top 40
Indian Law Firms methodology.
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