Bengaluru's explosive tech scene, startup ecosystem, and craft beer culture have spawned a new breed of specialised lawyers, transforming the once-sleepy city into one of India's most dynamic legal markets. This burgeoning legal landscape is attracting both homegrown and national law firms to establish and rapidly expand their presence in the Silicon Valley of India.
Every time you step onto a street in Bengaluru, you encounter a new, larger pothole on the road, a fresh 'Darshini' or brewery serving the ever-growing demand for filter coffee and beer, and a new startup, introducing the latest technological innovation from around the world to the Indian market.
The city’s meteoric rise over the last three decades has seen it grow from a retirement paradise with great weather, lakes and parks to a global technology hub, home to India’s top young minds and most successful unicorns like Ola, Flipkart, Swiggy and Razorpay.
This entrepreneurial spirit has created an ideal growth ecosystem, spawning over 10,000 startups, with a community of technology experts, global finance professionals, and private capital driving forward the city’s vision to lead global tech development. In 2020, over $10 billion was invested into ventures located here - surpassing even San Francisco and London.
This start-up culture has deeply influenced the growth of the city’s legal market, creating a unique category of tech-forward lawyers who understand technology – how it is created, its disruptive capabilities and how it can best be structured to marry founders’ visions with an evolving regulatory landscape.
‘ANYTHING-TECH’
The legal market has expanded from its traditional litigation and real estate focus to catering to new age companies, from start-ups to unicorns, primarily in the tech and tech-enabled space, says Sharda Balaji, the founder of NovoJuris Legal, a home-grown Bengaluru firm set up in 2008.
Bengaluru lawyers specialise in “anything-tech” says Balaji, explaining a rising demand for lawyers in the fin-tech, health-tech, insurance-tech, ed-tech, data privacy, artificial intelligence, SaaS space.
While Mumbai remains the financial capital of India, financial technology has found a home in Bengaluru. Leading fintech businesses, including RazorPay, Groww, CRED, PhonePe, Paytm Money and Zerodha have all been incubated in the city.
Bengaluru firms are advising these new age fintech companies on the constantly evolving regulatory changes coming from the Reserve Bank of India, and ensuring businesses are structured efficiently and in compliance with applicable laws, she says.
As this tech market has grown, more companies are raising funds to fuel expansion. To find the most attractive companies to invest in, venture capitalists have set up operations in the city to make access to capital easier.
For lawyers, this means more private equity and fund management work in Bengaluru, Balaji says.
“There used to be an impression that since SEBI is in Mumbai, these practices will be better-placed there, but now everything is online, including regulatory filings and communication, and can easily be done from Bengaluru,” says Balaji, who has advised multiple funders on their SEBI requirements, says.
The city has birthed its own set of law firms that cater to this market. Samvad Partners, NovoJuris Legal, Spice Route Legal, Ikigai Law, and Triumvir Law all started as small boutiques catering to growing startups and have since grown into full-service firms that help tech companies through their entire growth cycle – from raising angel funds and company registration, venture capital and private equity deal structuring, all the way to international expansion and listing on public markets.
GROWTH STRATEGIES
This growth has also aligned with that of India’s top law firms in the city, including Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, which has one of the largest practices in the city with 27 partners, and has moved to a larger office space this month.
Bengaluru-based Vivek Chandy, co-managing partner of JSA Advocates & Solicitors, one of the first entrants into the city around 25 years ago, says the firm is hunting for new office space as well, as it looks to expand its offering in the city.
Larger firms in the city focus on corporate, M&A, labour compliance and full-service work flowing from the larger domestic and international clients, including Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Accenture, Amazon, IBM, Cognizant, Deloitte and the likes.
They also support investments by large private equity funds, particularly in the IT, technology and real estate sectors, which continue to grow in number and size in the city, Chandy says.
JSA has also focused on building strong real estate capabilities in the city, which has been a longstanding and lucrative revenue generator for Bengaluru firms in the last two decades. The firm added an 8-member RE team led by partner Brijita Prakash from DSK Legal in May.
“Today, some of the builders in Bengaluru and bigger than their counterparts across the country owing to the lucrative growth in the market. The deals they do, in terms of land acquisition and attracting private and public investment, are getting bigger and more sophisticated, requiring specialised lawyers with localised knowledge.”
- Vivek Chandy, JSA
The firm also lost a six-lawyer real estate team led by Malini Raju to AZB & Partners last year.
“Today, some of the builders in Bengaluru and bigger than their counterparts across the country owing to the lucrative growth in the market. The deals they do, in terms of land acquisition and attracting private and public investment, are getting bigger and more sophisticated, requiring specialised lawyers with localised knowledge,” Chandy explains.
Clients tend to hire larger law firms for the corporate real estate work, while outsourcing on-the-ground diligence, including title checks, to smaller local practices. At JSA, Chandy has worked on integrating a team of lawyers who can handle the entire deal, from title diligence to corporate documentation within the firm.
Other practice areas also continue to grow in the city, Trilegal has added two capital markets lawyers from CAM, Khaitan & Co has added tax capabilities, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co hired an infrastructure-focused partner from JSA, while Luthra and Luthra absorbed a disputes boutique.
Khaitan has also focused on building a strong financial technology practice, with multiple partners gunning to capture a larger chunk of the city’s private equity pie.
Law firms from other parts of the country like Obhan & Associates, PLA Advocates, Antares Legal, Stratage Law Partners Emerald Law and Wadia Ghandy & Co have all launched Bengaluru offices in the last year, signifying that there is something for everyone in this market.
As is the trend across cities, law firms looking to enter or expand in the Bengaluru market are looking at inorganic expansion through hiring existing teams with a strong book, says Divya Vikram, the founder of Strider Seach. But there is no clear winning strategy.
IndusLaw used a strategy of aggressive expansion, including absorbing local firms and hiring large teams to build full-service capabilities required to meet demands from the growing number of unicorns in the city. Today, it has a successful Bengaluru practice, guiding longstanding clients who have grown alongside the firm, from business structuring to public markets.
Spice Route Legal, founded by Matthew Chacko in 2016, has taken another route to success. Combining organic and inorganic growth with a focus on specialised work, particularly in privacy and data protection, the firm has carved a niche for itself in the Bengaluru-market, and now across the country.
Samvad Partners, a successful full-service corporate law firm in the city, grew organically, building a team of highly specialised, industry-focused lawyers to serve the growing PE/VC needs of their clients, eventually expanding in practice areas and locations, into a full-service pan-national firm.
Building compliance capabilities, as startups get bigger in the city, is a strong factor in retaining clients, Vikram explains.
HIRING TRENDS
Hiring remans evergreen for corporate roles, particularly in the PE/VC, financial technology and M&A practice groups, explains Vikram. Real Estate and litigation hiring demand has also bounced back this year, as an attractive Bengaluru real estate market brings more businesses and increases the traffic already crowding the city’s narrow roads.
Cross-hiring from counsel roles to private practice and vice versa has also increased in the city, says Vikram. Startups are looking to build stronger and leaner in-house teams, as they look to do more work without engaging outside counsel, Vikram points out.
A growing demand for lawyers who understand corporate requirements has also led to law firms recruiting a number of in-house lawyers into their ranks, as they compete for business in a market that’s slowly crowding.
Salaries are also being matched in many cases, with counsel roles getting paid higher salaries to attract top talent, especially in the tech sector. The growing importance of legal counsel in business decision-making is bringing more lawyers to C-suites in the city, giving private practitioners an option to move out of law firms to in-house roles, that often offer a more balanced work life and better hours.
Overall, Vikram notes that more lawyers across the country are looking at jobs in Bengaluru, as salaries stay close to Mumbai and Delhi, a growing business environment offers extensive opportunities and cutting-edge innovation means the ‘next big thing’ is just around the corner.
