Induslaw ties up with global law firm CMS as India opens legal sector to foreign firms

Mumbai: Induslaw, one of India’s full-service law firms, has partnered with global law firm CMS. The deal boosts Induslaw’s international reach while giving CMS a foothold in a market that was previously restricted to foreign legal players.

The partnership, announced on Wednesday, comes on the heels of a notification by the Bar Council of India allowing foreign lawyers and law firms to practise in India, with certain restrictions, on a reciprocity basis.

However, Induslaw said its tie-up with CMS had been in the works for over two years. During this time, the firm undertook a detailed review of CMS’s operations across various practice areas, work culture, and common clients, before concluding its due diligence, it said.

The joint entity–CMS Induslaw–will have more than 6,800 lawyers in 45 countries, including 1,400 partners in the global firm.   

This partnership allows law firms' Indian clients to scale globally, said Suneeth Katarki, co-founder of Induslaw. "Today, corporates can have employment law issues in 20 different countries. As an Indian law firm, it could take many years to expand in those many jurisdictions, therefore the pact actually gives us access to CMS offices globally", Katarki said.

He added that the alliance helps IndusLaw to tap into the expertise of over 7,000 lawyers worldwide who offer deep local insights and expertise.

Induslaw, founded in 2000 by Avimukt Dar, Suneeth Katarki, Gaurav Dani, and Kartik Ganapathy, is a full-service firm operating across major Indian cities including Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Chennai. 

The firm has 60 partners and over 400 lawyers, advising many of India’s top corporates, including more than half of the country’s unicorns founded in the last decade.

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Meanwhile, CMS's practice areas include tax, dispute resolution corporate/M&A, banking and finance, and antitrust. It has presence in Berlin, Munich, Leipzig, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Brussels and Silicon Valley.

“Considering areas we are planning to strengthen we should be expanding by hiring close to 100 lawyers in this calendar year,” Katarki said.

With CMS's backing, Induslaw is now better positioned to compete with some of the top global law firms, Katarki said.

Its domestic competitors include Khaitan & Co, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, AZB & Partners, JSA Advocates and Solicitors.

A senior partner at a top Indian law firm said on the condition of anonymity that such alliances offer domestic firms access to knowledge management systems (KMS), brand, and cross-lateral referrals. 

KMS is a structured platform or process that helps law firms capture, organize, store, and share knowledge and expertise within the firm. In cross-lateral referrals, one maintains a certain standard, and based on that assurance a matter can be referred across firms.

More Indian firms are now seeking global partnerships that provide international support without the need to open physical offices abroad, the partner quoted above said.

The CMS-Induslaw partnership follows a similar pact in October 2022, when Dentons merged with Link Legal to provide legal services in India.

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