International Law
As Law Firms Elsewhere are Firing, Those in India are Hiring
Posted Jun 15, 2009 2:07 PM CST
By Martha Neil
As many major law firms based in the United States and London are shrinking their attorney rosters in reaction to a global recession, their counterparts in India are doing just fine.
In fact, a number of law firms in India are hiring in anticipation of increased business, reports Bloomberg in a lengthy article.
“India is a ‘must have’ when the rules for entry of foreign law firms are clear,” says Nandan Nelivigi, a New York partner of White & Case.
“The outlook for India is very promising—more than any other Jones Day market, in my view,” says partner Jeffrey Maddox. He works in his firm's Hong Kong office.
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Comments
B. McLeod
Jun 15, 2009 2:31 PM CST
Dear me, this is certainly not good news for BigLaw “associates.” Once the large firms are all set up to seamlessly move work to and from India, it will be impossible for the debt-ridden Ivy-Leaguers here to compete with the $12,000/year Indian attorneys.
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James
Jun 15, 2009 6:13 PM CST
Simple solution. State bar associations get together and declare that using Indian attorneys not licensed in the US is unauthorized practice of law and then SEVERELY punish such it.
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B. McLeod
Jun 15, 2009 11:10 PM CST
Punish who? Can’t get hold of the Indian attorneys, and it makes no sense to punish the clients for the supposed UPL. Even if states did it, then the companies would just pull up stakes and move to India. Then all the other manufacturing and service jobs will be gone too. I can’t see states taking this action just to help out a bunch of lawyers who can’t compete in the global market place. When it comes right down to it, nobody really loves lawyers all that much.
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J.D.
Jun 16, 2009 7:48 AM CST
Ah, the beauty of free trade. The U.S. will soon be a nation of paupers and a few kings.
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JN
Jun 16, 2009 11:07 AM CST
I suppose we can just hope for transparency and that many clients will refuse to work with firms that outsource their work? I’ll try not to hold my breath.
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Vishlysr
Jun 16, 2009 12:19 PM CST
Comment removed by moderator.
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IP associate
Jun 16, 2009 1:38 PM CST
I do a lot of interaction with the PTO. If you want to see what a US system dominated by foreign workers looks like, just pick up a recent Office action and attempt to read it for yourself.
Good luck to those who attempt this. The language barrier really is that bad when attempting to get high quality work (or even communicate intelligibly). I think you’ll soon find that with all the time wasted trying to get these attorneys lined out, only to have them move somewhere that will pay them more, the big firm associates will seem a relative bargain.
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Anonymous
Jun 16, 2009 3:51 PM CST
My law school’s Career Services Office warned us that we might have to relocate, and start out at salaries much lower than we expected. Maybe this is what they meant?
I do like curry, and hot weather is fine by me. Maybe it won’t be so bad after all.
Oh, crap. Even if I were able to land a job that paid $12K/year after taxes, I’m still $4K/year short for what it takes to pay my student loans. Maybe I can be a lawyer in an Indian law firm, and have a side job or two?
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B. McLeod
Jun 16, 2009 11:17 PM CST
Sure, take off to India for seven long years,
Drinking wine and fine whiskies, instead of pale beers,
And should ever you return again, it will be in the Spring,
And we’ll all sit down together then to hear the Nightingale sing.
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Mike Liotta
Jun 17, 2009 1:01 AM CST
Perhaps the recession can be better explained if one were to propound the supposition that the quality of lawers in the US is on the wane. Almost every post here is grossly ignorant and follows no visible logic.
This article is about hiring. And that too lawyers IN India and not hiring Indian lawyers IN the US. Again, the comments here weren’t able to exhibit any discernible pattern of coherency when it came to observing what the article actually said. In addition to that, it’s about Indian lawyers IN India who will be qualified to comment on INDIAN law and not American law (You see, that’s the way it usually works in most other jurisdictions too!) India has an underdeveloped and underserved market. With the steady opening of the economy, the magnitude of work coming IN INDIA is gargantuan to say the least and henceforth…...(take a guess).....requires a large number of INDIAN lawyers to be available to advise on and facilitate the transactions.
So, this is just a case of an Indian law firm hiring Indian graduates to work in India to work on deals coming in India. Yet the remarks here show an extreme paranoia gripping the lawyers in the US. Had this been an article about hiring in Germany or Australia or UK they would’ve probably not taken note.
To clear some misconcpetions”
This is about FOREIGN law firms entering the Indian market and NOT Indian law firms entering the foreign market. The Indian lawyers should be the ones bracing themselves for a level of competition which they are not used to.
Secondly, the law firms that are hiring in such large number are the Tier I law firms like Amarchand, Luthra, AZB, J. Sagar and the like. Not your run of the mill law firms. These law firms pay anything between 12-15 lac rupees as a starting salary for a NQ lawyer. This is of course not inclusive of the annual bonus or other perks. 15 lac rupees is equivalent to 37,000 USD (approx.) per annum which in PPP terms is very impressive and as good as any salary paid by a Whiteshoe law firm in New York (hi haters!). So if you’re thinking of a bunch of Indians stacked in some cubicles, then think again B. McLeod .
You guys should probably take it easy and give yourself a break. Wait a minute, you already are. If you want to make money, then you should probably exorcise that misplaced fear you have and if you can’t do that, then there is always money to be made by renting out that extra space in your craniums.
Later haters!
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Mike Liotta
Jun 17, 2009 1:03 AM CST
Oh and do mind the typo. In case you might be wondering, that’s ‘lawyers’ and not ‘lawers’.
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shangri
Jun 17, 2009 6:57 AM CST
The Indian law firms can compete with Big Law on any project. The best and the brightest in India are just as qualified as those on Wall Street.
This is a good day for the legal profession and our global economy. Borders will not exist in 10 years. Obama has already indicated that the sun has sunk on American capitalisim and a new one world order will soon be here.
By the end of Obama’s second term we will have a global currency to help further the globilization of all trades.
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B. McLeod
Jun 17, 2009 8:46 AM CST
Ha, ha. Which typo was that, Mike?
Yet I wonder (still I wonder), who’ll stop the wane?
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