Trio breaks away from A&O's Indian alliance firm
Allen & Overy's (A&O) Indian referral firm, Trilegal, has lost three of its 10 partners, with the trio leaving to set up an independent firm with a senior banking partner from Indian firm Kochhar & Co.
Trilegal's Delhi-based junior equity partners Abhishek Saxena, who focuses on project finance, corporate and capital markets work, and Saket Shukla, who works on corporate, insurance partner and technology matters, have left the firm along with Mumbai corporate and finance partner Sawant Singh. They will be joined by former Kochhar & Co senior partner and banking specialist Manjula Chawla.
The new firm, called Phoenix Legal, will specialise in corporate and finance work. The intention is that the firm will have 10 associates by the end of the month, including at least three from Trilegal.
Trilegal founding partner Anand Prasad said: "These were great guys, we all enjoyed working with them and we'd love to still have them around. But I guess we were set up as a lockstep system and they probably just wanted to get to the top a lot faster and decided to set up a replica of Trilegal."
Saxena, Shukla and Singh joined Trilegal as associates when it was founded eight years ago and were made up to the equity around two years ago.
In addition to its five founding partners, Trilegal is left with two partners that were made up this year and around 100 other lawyers. The firm operates a 13-year lockstep for the five founding partners and a 10-year lockstep for new partners.
A&O formally entered into a non-exclusive referral relationship with Trilegal earlier this year, promising the Indian firm training, know-how and work (TheLawyer.com, 22 February 2008). Trilegal currently has one associate seconded to A&O.
A&O's India head Alex Pease said: "We're very happy with the arrangement with Trilegal, it is going extremely well. The referral arrangement we have is with those founding partners who are still there and who continue to provide in-depth coverage in all the sectors and geographical areas that we need to cover."
Readers' comments (17)
Anonymous | 16-Oct-2008 1:21 pm
Survival
I will be interested to see how long they survive in the wild.
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Anonymous | 16-Oct-2008 3:45 pm
Typical Indian law firm
This phenomena is typical of Indian firms. They don't let you grow fast enough and ultimately they suffer with quality people leaving.
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Anonymous | 16-Oct-2008 3:58 pm
Wake up call?
Mr. Pease says it all. The deal was only with the 5 who stayed back. No wonder the others left. The newer lot should get worried...
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Anonymous | 16-Oct-2008 4:20 pm
Personal fiefdom
Sounds a bit like a certain offshore law firm out in the Atlantic...
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Anonymous | 16-Oct-2008 5:02 pm
These three conquered the wild....
I have no doubts about their ability to survive, and do much better than just survive. The last decade has been spent in the wildest parts of the legal world, so its unlikely that the future will have anything more difficult to throw at them...
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Noah | 16-Oct-2008 5:34 pm
Sometime soon
When Indian lawyers see how many opportunities are presented by international firms it's just a matter of time before they liberalise. The present regime is held up by vested interests dominating law societies, but the vested interests of a minority can't hold back the majority for ever - India is still a democracy, after all.
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Market watcher | 16-Oct-2008 5:47 pm
A&O Strategy
Wonder whether A&O should be rethinking anout its strategy to pay a premium to only a few owner-partners and expect these owner-partners to deliver a quality team when the market opens up in India. Chances are that they will end up getting just the owner-partners along with a lot of juniors and would have paid a premium for nothing... The strategy of Linklaters seems more prudent in these circumstances.
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Anonymous | 16-Oct-2008 8:08 pm
International law firm
New lot are fronting for one more international firm. Greed is good.
Remaining partners are bigger names
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Anonymous | 17-Oct-2008 5:31 am
All the best
There's definitely space for more law firms offering quality work to clients. The move should be seen as a gain for the legal sector rather than a good or bad one from individual firms' perspective! We wish Phoenix Legall all the very best!
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Anonymous | 17-Oct-2008 4:44 pm
Factual Inaccuracies
I am surprised on the comment on how the new firm would survive in the wild. Probably Mr. Anonymous has little knowledge about the capabilities of the 4 partners. If Manjula could bring great success to the Kochhar firm, there is no reason why she cannot do it again with the help of other capable partners.
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Anonymous | 19-Oct-2008 6:56 am
Factual inaccuracies!!!
Whoever thinks Kochhar & Co. is where it is today because of MC (oops Manjula Chawla) cant be further from the truth... infact she was the one holding that Firm back with her cynicism...I'm quite curious to see the fate this new baby of Ms. Chawla.
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Anonymous | 19-Oct-2008 2:31 pm
Italy revisited
the history of globalisation in europe, parts of asia is replete with examples of large teams of quality partners leaving firms to set up on their own or join independant firms, especially when foreign alliances are formed. the culture differences are too stark. the trilegal- A&O example and the exit of a very important part of the firm proves this. as alex pease said, the deal is only with the core partners and, this may actually be part of the grand plan to get rid of non-core partners. this should be a lesson for indian firms seeking alliances as to what is in store for them. trilegal should have done its homework and seen the havoc that A&O caused in italy by destroying many many firms through thier imperialistic strategies. this is just a eye-opener of what happens whilst joining hands with the british.
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Anonymous | 20-Oct-2008 1:18 pm
Both will flourish
There is no reason why both firms will not flourish.
Trilegal has built tremendous brand equity in the market and seems to be of the first with a lockstep. People continue to join expecting to become partners.
The three leavers are decent lawyers and should also do well in a market short of good commercial lawyers.
Good luck to both!
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V.Sounder Rajan Chennai | 23-Oct-2008 6:09 am
Survival of Fittest
Let me clear the misconcepton the US Law Firms have about Indian Law Firms,Indian Law Firms are born out of Batchmates in College leaving a Firm or by a group of youngsters part of a moteher firm starting one.,as the name Phoenix suggests they will come from dust. Unlike US ,Law Firms have no Celebrity status and Phoenix will survive despite all odds as made out in the comments .
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Anonymous | 24-Oct-2008 12:18 pm
Survival
Survival is not in question...any one with even a law degree can survive in india. The moot question is whether the trio have it in them to run a successful legal enterprise.
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J | 6-Nov-2008 7:06 am
Great Team
It's good for them to move and start afresh. Manjula, of course, is a great leader and she is the store house of corporate knowledge. May be, the equivalent of Zia Mody in New Delhi. Saket is the nice guy with great corporate skills and Abhishek is the smart work horse. All the best for their new venture. I wish them good luck and success.
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J | 6-Nov-2008 7:13 am
Great Team
They are a great team. Knowing them, it is a good decision. Manjula, of couse, is the leader and widely accepted to be the Zia Mody equivalent in New Delhi. There are numerouse law firms run by people whom she trained and nurtured. Saket is the knowledge house and Abhishek is the smart and dedicated work horse. I wish them good luck and success in this endeavour of theirs.
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