Full-service domestic law firm Induslaw has entered into a strategic partnership with global legal powerhouse CMS, enhancing its international footprint while enabling the latter to gain a toehold in the once-restricted Indian legal market.
The development comes weeks after the Bar Council of India (BCI) allowed the entry of foreign lawyers and law firms to operate in the country in a regulated and reciprocal framework.
German-British law firm group CMS has over 6,800 lawyers in 45 countries and works on a Swiss Verein model. With 60 partners and more than 400 lawyers, IndusLaw has a presence across six cities.
The Swiss Verein model is a legal structure used primarily by professional service firms, especially global law firms, accounting firms, and consulting firms to operate under a common brand while maintaining financial, legal, and operational independence of member entities.
“With India’s economy being increasingly integrated into the global economic system, the need for agile, forward-thinking legal advisers capable of bridging local and international jurisdictions has never been more critical,” said Duncan Weston, executive partner at CMS. “With INDUSLAW now a CMS member firm, we can offer clients a coordinated, full-service legal platform in India, one of the fastest-growing and most strategically important markets in the world.”
“Joining CMS not only aligns with our strategic goals but enhances the value that we offer to our clients as well as our fee earners,” said IndusLaw’s founding partners in a joint statement. “This reflects our shared vision to offer effective and world-class legal solutions with global perspectives. We look forward to driving growth, innovation and collaboration across borders.”
The firm’s founding partners include Avimukt Dar, Gaurav Dani, Kartik Ganapathy and Suneeth Katarki.
IndusLaw is the second domestic law firm to enter into such a formal agreement with an international network. In 2022, Dentons, the world’s largest global law firm in terms of the number of lawyers and offices had announced its formal combination with Link Legal for the Indian market.
London-based RSGI, an advisory and intelligence agency for the legal profession, estimates the size of the Indian corporate legal services market at $2.8 billion in 2024 and predicts it to expand rapidly to keep pace with a growing economy and increasingly complex demands of Indian and international businesses.
Reena Sengupta, Executive Director of RSGI, said, there are a lot of smaller, mid-tier Indian law firms with stand-out corporate partners looking to tie up or form the base for a foreign law firm. Likewise, foreign law firms are on the hunt for entrepreneurial Indian talent, preferably dual-qualified to start their on-the-ground Indian presence.
“But firms are also wary of both haziness in the rules, the mismatch in fees and profits and cultural differences. This said, Indian law firms have modernised so rapidly in the past five years, as you can see on our new Resight India platform, that they are more of a match for their foreign counterparts,” said Sengupta. “Equally, given the potential of the Indian economy, if the founders of an Indian law firm have the energy, there are big wins to be had by going it alone as well,” she further added.
Ritvik Lukose, chief executive of Vahura, a legal executive search and consulting firm, said Indian and International firms are actively responding to the regulatory intent to open up the Indian legal sector.
“Tie-ups of a similar nature are in the works between global firms and Indian firms. International firms are also seeking clarification with the BCI on the registration process, while exploring collaboration options with firms in India,” adds Lukose.
The development comes weeks after the Bar Council of India (BCI) allowed the entry of foreign lawyers and law firms to operate in the country in a regulated and reciprocal framework.
German-British law firm group CMS has over 6,800 lawyers in 45 countries and works on a Swiss Verein model. With 60 partners and more than 400 lawyers, IndusLaw has a presence across six cities.
The Swiss Verein model is a legal structure used primarily by professional service firms, especially global law firms, accounting firms, and consulting firms to operate under a common brand while maintaining financial, legal, and operational independence of member entities.
“With India’s economy being increasingly integrated into the global economic system, the need for agile, forward-thinking legal advisers capable of bridging local and international jurisdictions has never been more critical,” said Duncan Weston, executive partner at CMS. “With INDUSLAW now a CMS member firm, we can offer clients a coordinated, full-service legal platform in India, one of the fastest-growing and most strategically important markets in the world.”
“Joining CMS not only aligns with our strategic goals but enhances the value that we offer to our clients as well as our fee earners,” said IndusLaw’s founding partners in a joint statement. “This reflects our shared vision to offer effective and world-class legal solutions with global perspectives. We look forward to driving growth, innovation and collaboration across borders.”
The firm’s founding partners include Avimukt Dar, Gaurav Dani, Kartik Ganapathy and Suneeth Katarki.
IndusLaw is the second domestic law firm to enter into such a formal agreement with an international network. In 2022, Dentons, the world’s largest global law firm in terms of the number of lawyers and offices had announced its formal combination with Link Legal for the Indian market.
London-based RSGI, an advisory and intelligence agency for the legal profession, estimates the size of the Indian corporate legal services market at $2.8 billion in 2024 and predicts it to expand rapidly to keep pace with a growing economy and increasingly complex demands of Indian and international businesses.
Reena Sengupta, Executive Director of RSGI, said, there are a lot of smaller, mid-tier Indian law firms with stand-out corporate partners looking to tie up or form the base for a foreign law firm. Likewise, foreign law firms are on the hunt for entrepreneurial Indian talent, preferably dual-qualified to start their on-the-ground Indian presence.
“But firms are also wary of both haziness in the rules, the mismatch in fees and profits and cultural differences. This said, Indian law firms have modernised so rapidly in the past five years, as you can see on our new Resight India platform, that they are more of a match for their foreign counterparts,” said Sengupta. “Equally, given the potential of the Indian economy, if the founders of an Indian law firm have the energy, there are big wins to be had by going it alone as well,” she further added.
Ritvik Lukose, chief executive of Vahura, a legal executive search and consulting firm, said Indian and International firms are actively responding to the regulatory intent to open up the Indian legal sector.
“Tie-ups of a similar nature are in the works between global firms and Indian firms. International firms are also seeking clarification with the BCI on the registration process, while exploring collaboration options with firms in India,” adds Lukose.
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