The Indian Legal Fraternity is one of the few sectors of India Inc. where the lineage of the firms play a major role in setting benchmarks. Lex Witness gets into a candid conversation with Gurvinder Suri, Managing Partner, Suri & Co. Law Firm. Here are a few excerpts.
My initiation into the world of law began in the year 1978 when I got married into the Suri family. Having been brought up in a family of entrepreneurs, I had always seen business acumen being given more weightage than education. This new world was mesmerizing. I was a student of History at the time and dinner table conversations which involved discussions relating to national politics and legal issues helped me draw a parallel between the policies of the past and the strategies of the future.
After I had completed my masters in History, we decided to start our family. I read law after my daughters were born. My daughters wondered why I was required to study family law when I probably laid it down! They also read out case law to me. Although it was a daunting task to manage toddlers and law school along with my responsibilities at home, I realized that strong support system, an organized method of functioning and supportive team members were the key to achieving success. I carry the learning from this experience into my decisions as a Managing Partner today.
In 2009, the mantle of running Suri& Company, Law Firm fell upon my shoulders when the founder member of the Firm, Mr. Rupinder Singh Suri was designated a Senior Advocate by the Supreme Court. I was approached collectively by the senior lawyers and clerks in the Law Firm under the guidance of Mr. Sumit Aggarwal to lead them as a Managing Partner. Although at first I felt apprehensive about accepting this responsibility, I rose to the challenge seeing the unshakeable faith which was reposed in me by my team members. Managing the Firm definitely makes my journey as a lawyer more enriching and fulfilling.
As Managing Partner, I am guided by the ethos and vision of the Firm to create a long lasting, self-sustaining institution which marries ethical practices and quality legal work. I perceive my role as that of a catalyst. I have taken complete charge of systems within the Firm. I manage the requirements of the Client and balance those against the needs of my team members, accounting and finance, implementation of business strategies as well as the provision of infrastructure and technology.
New vertical areas of practice have been introduced and over the years we have expanded the core team to induct new Partners practicing in several practice areas such as Mergers and Acquisitions, Arbitration, Banking, Electricity as well as Public Interest Litigation.
It is a matter of pride that in my tenure as Managing Partner, the Firm has grown stronger and we have expanded our footprint by setting up Suri& Company offices in Chandigarh as well as Bhubaneswar in addition to Delhi. We are also in the process of setting up an office in Mumbai shortly and are ironing out the details.
Suri& Company is a full-service Law Firm having verticals with varied expertise that caters to rendering legal services across India through its own offices and an extensive network pan-India. Established in 1984, a time when the legal practice in India was dominated by individual practitioners, the Firm strove to cater to the corporate and institutional clientele seeking value-based advisory and ethical services.
The Firm’s growth and evolution has been parallel to development in the Indian economy due to which the Firm has had practice areas across the spectrum ranging from banking, financial services, consumer litigation, private equity, project finance, aviation, real estate, F&B, Hospitality, manufacturing sector, SMEs, e-commerce start-ups, intellectual property etc.
The Firm has completed over 30 years of practice following a strict value system of ‘learning’ by working closely with the clients, ‘understanding’ the challenges that the clients face, ‘structuring solutions’ by anticipating the key concerns and ‘executing’ the solutions.
The paradigm shift caused in virtually every sector of the world economy by Globalization has had a ripple effect on the market for legal services. The integration of the economies of the world as we have witnessed in the last few decades would inevitably lead to a gradual globalization of the legal profession; for law is an applied science and shares a mutually symbiotic relationship with politics as well as economics. The legal industry is no longer the only custodian of legal rights and protector of fundamental rights. Over time, it has also metamorphosed into the role of a business facilitator.
Existing laws are becoming obsolete because of rapid technological advancement and need to keep pace with the changing technology. Internet related laws, in respect of natural resources such as sea wealth, issues of space law, broadband etc. are posing new challenges. With regard to opening of market for law firms, I feel that the hype being created is emerging out of an ill-perceived insecurity. Foreign law firms would sound death- knells to the current leading corporate firms because they would have far deeper pockets and access to most advanced legal nuances. However as long as reciprocal arrangements can be arranged with the countries of origin of these Law Firms, India is going to gain immensely. This is because they would bring in foreign capital and they would coming into India if their clients set up their operations in India or do business with India. Secondly, they would bring in culture of professionalism and raise the standards of practice. Thirdly, they would primarily be using lawyers of India and of Indian origin. This would bring a class upgradation of the current set of Indian lawyers.
I firmly believe that we should not run away from the competition but to dig ourselves firmly and to fight it out. Who after all knows India better than us?T here is an immense need for achieving professional synergy between lawyers, accountants, financial analysts and company secretaries. I do not believe in accounting firms running legal practices or legal firms running accountancy practices. Both the situations would go beyond the respective regulators control. However, there should be total synergy before advising client and giving wholesome advice since any such advice would have deep impact on business.
What sets Suri& Company apart from all other Law Firms is the fact that each lawyer is trained to strategize like a Partner, research like an intern, and apply legal concepts to factual situations like an academic. The emphasis is on total integrity. We also believe in continued strong training in soft skills with specific emphasis on written communications, oral presentations, team work, effective chairmanship and project management. Each member of the team besides their assigned area of practice is made aware of the larger canvass. I know this is a long term investment which is latent and not obvious on the face of it but I am also of the opinion that once this investment in this human capital starts paying dividends, it would be an unstoppable juggernaut.
We believe in nurturing our talent in-house and giving people opportunities for growth and development within the Firm structure. Our lawyers are encouraged to understand the business of clients so that meaningful upgradation of documentation can be done from time to time. There is direct correlation between the judgments passed in Courts and changes in the documents for future businesses of our clients. This has led to the overall development of our team members and they are all adept at handling cases at various stages ranging from the trial courts to the Supreme Court.
We strongly believe that individuals are most motivated to perform their best when they feel they are in a safe, democratic and independent environment. In keeping with this thought we decided to do away with hierarchical systems of reporting and management and replaced it with a flat vertical structure. This makes it easier for people to approach the Management directly without any inhibition. We have learnt that people learn faster as they are given complete responsibility of matters from beginning to end. They are guided by senior members of the Firm, but are encouraged to develop their own individual styles and identity. People are constantly put in challenging situations and we also have team rotations from time to time. This helps junior members to understand the nuances of advocacy at the Supreme Court level as well as the procedure and practices present in the trial courts. We have observed that this leads to a synergy between various teams and verticals and helps us service our Clients better as our members are aware of how their actions at trial courts or in the drafting of contracts and agreements will be perceived by the highest court. This leads to the growth of the individual as well as the institution.
To be a robust tree, it is essential that its roots be strong. Therefore, young lawyers must first expose themselves to the civil and the criminal practice at the trial court level and then decide above whether they want to practice corporate law or become litigators. Once they decide, they must choose an area of specialization as clients are no longer open to the idea that all lawyers are good and competent in all fields. However, since most areas of practice in the field of law overlap and converge, it is also important for young lawyers to keep abreast of changes in related fields which may affect their specific area of practice and gain a broad understanding of the laws in general in order to advise their clients better.
www.grandmasters.in | 8 Years & Counting
www.rcls.in | 8 Years & Counting
www.itlegalsummit.com | 8 Years & Counting
www.bfls.in | 8 Years & Counting
www.maels.in | 8 Years & Counting
www.plcs.co.in | 8 Years & Counting
Copyright © 2020 Lex Witness - India's 1st Magazine on Legal & Corporate Affairs Rights of Admission Reserved
