“As far as Ashurst is concerned, I’m very happy with where we are today,” says the firm’s India group head Richard Gubbins. For a lawyer who is just about to shut down an office he has helped build and defend for 15 years, he does not sound upset at all. Is he just putting a brave face on things or is the firm secretly glad to be rid of what had turned into an expensive millstone?

Ashurst has decided to close its Delhi liaison office following the outcome of the Lawyers Collective case. However, the office closure was already on the cards two months before the judgment, according to the firm.