Amarchand Mangaldas’ Mumbai has started a volume-focused transactional support practice, which the firm is continuing to trial hoping to offer clients better due diligence and commoditised advice.
Legally India understands that the new department dubbed transaction support group (TSG), was started around a year ago and now consists of around 30 lawyers, who are based in Amarchand’s Mumbai Peninsula Chambers offices in Lower Parel.
In particular, the TSG is believed to be targeting on due diligence of corporate transactions, litigation and real estate deals, as well as specialising in property conveyancing.
One of the aims with the TSG is to provide a team to clients that has greater specialisation on such work, which is often handled by junior associates with only very little practical experience.
Growing a team that specialises in commoditised, higher volume but often lower-margin work, rather than as a learning ground for young lawyers, is hoped to provide a better service and end product.
It is understood that no fixed recruitment policies or intentional salary differential is in place for members of the TSG at present, though the initiative is still a work-in-progress, on which the firms’ management will only take a final call in the coming months.
Amarchand senior partners confirmed that a TSG had been started, but declined to comment when contacted by Legally India.
Besides requiring similar technology and processes as Indian legal process outsourcing (LPO) firms, which sell TSG-style services to law firm and in-house departments, Amarchand’s efforts in the space mirror those of UK-headquartered firm Addleshaws.
Addleshaws started a Manchester-based transaction services team (TST) around four years ago, which had handled more than 3,000 matters by late last year, reported The Lawyer.
Unlike an LPO, a TSG or TST is intended to be tightly integrated into the existing firm and transaction teams, while taking advantage of the efficiencies of optimising technology use and structuring the workflow around the types of transaction that do require much variation from deal to deal.
Comments
Anyone who has hired from AMSS's PQE 2-7 cadre knows how poorly these people are trained. Any in-house counsel who has hired AMSS for this level of work knows what a bad value the firm offers. With high-quality, well-trained lawyers in the US, UK, Australia and NZealand doing this work for rates that are more competitive in rupee terms, AMSS has to try something. An electronic disclosure room can be accesed from anywhere - why overpay for puff-chested, poorly supervised AMSS juniors? Better to start a product line aimed for this work than continuing to discount ferociously and damage your core brand.
Anyone who has hired from AMSS's PQE 2-7 cadre knows how poorly these people are trained. Any in-house counsel who has hired AMSS for this level of work knows what a bad value the firm offers. With high-quality, well-trained lawyers in the US, UK, Australia and NZealand doing this work for rates that are more competitive in rupee terms, AMSS has to try something. An electronic disclosure room can be accesed from anywhere - why overpay for puff-chested, poorly supervised AMSS juniors? Better to start a product line aimed for this work than continuing to discount ferociously and damage your core brand.[/quote]
The poor quality of AMSS lawyers in the 0-7 year PQE bracket is true but it remains to be seen what can be accomplished by having a new 'team' for this. Seems more of a rebranding effort. AZB already tried an LPO model with Bodhi Global, which didnt work.
Anyone who has hired from AMSS's PQE 2-7 cadre knows how poorly these people are trained. Any in-house counsel who has hired AMSS for this level of work knows what a bad value the firm offers. With high-quality, well-trained lawyers in the US, UK, Australia and NZealand doing this work for rates that are more competitive in rupee terms, AMSS has to try something. An electronic disclosure room can be accesed from anywhere - why overpay for puff-chested, poorly supervised AMSS juniors? Better to start a product line aimed for this work than continuing to discount ferociously and damage your core brand.[/quote]
The poor quality of AMSS lawyers in the 0-7 year PQE bracket is true but it remains to be seen what can be accomplished by having a new 'team' for this. Seems more of a rebranding effort. AZB already tried an LPO model with Bodhi Global, which didnt work.[/quote]
So basically I am reading two back to back comments that say that AMSS lawyers who have as much as 7 years of experience are poorly trained and are incompetent lawyers and bad value for money? (I am of course going to ignore the fact that till a few years back 7 years PQE could mean talking about an AM superstar Partner, who are all well acclaimed in the market even now)...
Since AM is generally considered to have one of the best rosters of lawyers in the country, I just wanted to understand from what stage of their career do you think an AM lawyer starts justifying/earning the reputation as a good lawyer? Not when they successfully lead transactions at 4-5 years PQE, I guess? Maybe 7.1 years PQE onwards, quite magically, after growing wings?
Alias also seems to have misunderstood the point about AM lawyers. If you recruit 100 lawyers, it is likely that 5 will be superstars, and 5 will be terrible. Training, culture and other factors have an impact on how the other 90 turn out. I am overstating this in order to make a point, but I think it is a valid one. There are plenty of AM lawyers who are fantastic. There are many who are not and perhaps that is partly due to the firm.
1) TSG is not part of partnership and is handled by completely different people inside Amarchand
2) Salary is 6 lakhs per annum
3) Lawyers working in TSG are not designated as Associates but as legal executives, managers etc.
4) The main aim of TSG is to provide extra hand to AMSS main practices in the form of due diligence (This maybe extended to other areas of practice or might have) (Basic support)
5) Currently there is no policy in place where a lawyer working in TSG side can jump on the other side or main areas of practice of AMSS.
6) Promotion policy and designation is quite different compared to main areas of practice. In fact TSG is not headed by any partner AFAIK.
7) Most of the people working in TSG are lawyers who have graduated from non national law schools.
8) TSG is good for those who want to eventually handle the business side of law firms. (This was actually quoted by someone who is a biggie on TSG side)
9) It's very much a captive something in the lines of how magic circle remember etc
Hi Clarity! What a load of euphemisms and fibs.
1) TSG is not part of partnership and is handled by completely different people inside Amarchand
>> Completely different, so different that they have 4 arms and 8 legs I guess?
2) Salary is 6 lakhs per annum
>> Less than 50% of AMSS A-0 salary, really?
3) Lawyers working in TSG are not designated as Associates but as legal executives, managers etc.
>> A legal 'executive' ? Wow awesome
4) The main aim of TSG is to provide extra hand to AMSS main practices in the form of due diligence (This maybe extended to other areas of practice or might have) (Basic support)
>> An 'extra hand' is it? Like taking print outs and answering the phone?
5) Currently there is no policy in place where a lawyer working in TSG side can jump on the other side or main areas of practice of AMSS.
>> Wonder why?
6) Promotion policy and designation is quite different compared to main areas of practice. In fact TSG is not headed by any partner AFAIK.
>> I guess Cyril runs it personally because its so important
7) Most of the people working in TSG are lawyers who have graduated from non national law schools.
>> Like ILS Pune and Symby and the fake nationals like NLIU - Bhopal and NLIU- Jodhpur
8) TSG is good for those who want to eventually handle the business side of law firms. (This was actually quoted by someone who is a biggie on TSG side)
>> And what do the partners in the firm look after ?
9) It's very much a captive something in the lines of how magic circle remember etc
>> A captive 'something'
Are you from this TSG yourself by any chance?
P.S Im not from UPES and this news is available on Bar and Bench and possibly on legallyindia.
btw, AMSS tried to call few more chaps from UPES, only to hear a strong 'NO' on its face..even to the extent of few, who are working as associates in middle tier law firms..!!
Some facts as I know :
1) The salary in TSG is about 60% of usual at A0 level.
2) There are also some people from National Law Universities (some take it with the hope of eventually moving to mainstream)
3) Its an experiment to cut costs - nothing else.
Any idea if AMSS is revising its A0 salary ???
Which Amss office was it? Delhi?