Corporate law cos ramp up hiring amid scramble for talent
Top law firms including J Sagar Associates, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas and Trilegal are planning to hire hundreds of lawyers this year as business rebounds after the pandemic, led by mergers and acquisitions, private equity and capital markets, competition, regulatory affairs, and environment, sustainability and governance.
“Every year, we typically look to boost our lawyers’ pool by hiring 60-80 lawyers from law schools. This year, we may be hiring upwards of 100 new lawyers. Compared to the previous fiscal, our hikes may be higher,” said Nishant Parekh, partner, Trilegal. Half of all new hires at Trilegal will work at its corporate, merger and acquisition, and funds functions.
Rival law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas said it will add 300 lawyers this year, of which 100 have been already recruited from campuses. “The firm expects accelerated growth in FY22-23, with strong demand for our lawyers and experts across the traditional and emerging practices of law,” said Cyril Shroff, managing partner, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas.
“The human resources strategy is firmly aligned with the firm’s growth plans and we plan to increase our workforce by 20-25%. We have already rolled out offers to 100 new associates who will be joining us straight from campus in the next couple of months,” Shroff said.
“There will be a marked increase in the intake of campus freshers. The focus will be on building a long-term talent pool and reduce dependencies upon mid-level lateral talent intake,” said Amar Sinhji, executive director, HR at Khaitan & Co.
Recruiters said that the increase in public listings and startups turning unicorns in finance and tech sectors have driven up demand for large legal teams. Law firms are poaching from each other and from corporates at steep salaries, and legal teams are promoting senior lawyers to partners to retain them.
“The difference we are seeing now is that law firms are themselves strengthening their own capabilities quantitatively but also qualitatively. This means fortifying themselves and building new muscle to address high growth emerging areas like venture capital, private equity, and themes such as sustainability,” said Sachin Rajan, country manager India for search firm Russell Reynolds Associates. “We have had a doubling of demand for talent in this function over the last two years,” Rajan added.
There is strong demand for top legal skills and companies want to establish stronger in-house legal teams. “Qualitatively as well, the ask now is for these individuals to be business partners, enablers of growth, versus the conventional cautionary and protective mode,” he said.
While junior lawyers are snapped up from campuses, law firms are also trying to retain their staff with salary hikes.