New Delhi: Rahul Matthan and Karan Singh, founding partners of leading law firm Trilegal, are setting a precedent in India’s legal services industry by stepping down from its managing committee, long before they are due to retire, to make way for an elected management.
Matthan and Singh will step down by the end of March from the two-member managing committee of the firm to make way for Sridhar Gorthi and Nishant Parikh, who were elected by the partners in the firm, the founding partners said in an interview. Members of the management committee run the firm like joint-managing partners.
This is the first known case of a law firm having elected managing partners, as the industry in India is marked by family or personality-led firms. Trilegal, with 55 partners, is regarded to be among the highest revenue generating law firms in the country and has about 400 lawyers.
Gorthi, a Mumbai-based partner and a transaction expert, and Parikh, another partner based in Mumbai with experience in corporate restructuring and transactions, will take over on 1 April. To help with the transition, Matthan and Karan will move to the firm’s consultative board, which is being restructured to a supervisory role. The new supervisory board will have seven members against the current four-member board, said Matthan. Two other people have been elected to be part of the management committee, Singh said.
“Transitions happen through a great amount of hand holding. We believe it is important to continue to stay in the firm to help with the transition," said Singh.
Law firms are not in a position to accept foreign direct investment or domestic capital from non-lawyers because of regulatory restrictions and thus have to find capital from own resources for expansion. A progressive structure offering partners the opportunity to lead the firm could make it easier to attract and retain talent in the highly competitive industry. Partners are the key pillars of law firms as they bring business by leveraging the firm’s platform and brand.
Matthan said Trilegal was never a personality driven firm and none of its five founders were ever the person who led the entity.
