The Case of Singhania and Partners
HKU763
PREETI GOYAL
PEOPLE MANAGEMENT, THE MANTRA FOR SUCCESS: THE CASE OF SINGHANIA AND PARTNERS
It was 9:15am on 25 April 2006. An article published in that day’s Economic Times, a leading Indian financial daily, had attracted the attention of both Mr Ravi Singhania and Ms Manju Mohotra. Singhania was the founder and managing partner of Singhania and Partners,1 one of the largest full-service national law firms in India; Mohotra was its chief executive. The Indian legal services industry had been booming since the country’s economic liberalisation, which had started in the 1990s. The exponential growth of this industry was accompanied by an acute talent crunch. The ability to hire and retain talent was becoming a source of competitive advantage, a mantra for success. The news article Singhania and Mohotra read was about the movement of partners between legal services firms. It was yet another testimony to the high attrition rate in the Indian legal services industry. Sitting in Mohotra’s office, the article provoked both Singhania and Mohotra to reflect on the adequacy of their firm’s people practices.
Indian Legal Services Industry
The legal services market covered law practitioners operating in every sector of the legal sphere such as commercial, criminal, legal aid, insolvency, labour/industrial, family and taxation law. Before 1992, a vast majority of Indian lawyers worked in small practices as Indian law mandated that law firms could neither have more than 20 partners nor could they advertise their services. Additionally, Indian corporations preferred in-house legal advisors as they were more economical compared to external counsels, further rendering the creation of large legal firms less likely. The legal services industry had competitive pricing and legal firms were mostly fragmented and competed in niche domains. With the liberalisation of the Indian economy, beginning in the early 1990s, came the foreign investors and multinational
PREETI GOYAL
PEOPLE MANAGEMENT, THE MANTRA FOR SUCCESS: THE CASE OF SINGHANIA AND PARTNERS
It was 9:15am on 25 April 2006. An article published in that day’s Economic Times, a leading Indian financial daily, had attracted the attention of both Mr Ravi Singhania and Ms Manju Mohotra. Singhania was the founder and managing partner of Singhania and Partners,1 one of the largest full-service national law firms in India; Mohotra was its chief executive. The Indian legal services industry had been booming since the country’s economic liberalisation, which had started in the 1990s. The exponential growth of this industry was accompanied by an acute talent crunch. The ability to hire and retain talent was becoming a source of competitive advantage, a mantra for success. The news article Singhania and Mohotra read was about the movement of partners between legal services firms. It was yet another testimony to the high attrition rate in the Indian legal services industry. Sitting in Mohotra’s office, the article provoked both Singhania and Mohotra to reflect on the adequacy of their firm’s people practices.
Indian Legal Services Industry
The legal services market covered law practitioners operating in every sector of the legal sphere such as commercial, criminal, legal aid, insolvency, labour/industrial, family and taxation law. Before 1992, a vast majority of Indian lawyers worked in small practices as Indian law mandated that law firms could neither have more than 20 partners nor could they advertise their services. Additionally, Indian corporations preferred in-house legal advisors as they were more economical compared to external counsels, further rendering the creation of large legal firms less likely. The legal services industry had competitive pricing and legal firms were mostly fragmented and competed in niche domains. With the liberalisation of the Indian economy, beginning in the early 1990s, came the foreign investors and multinational