Law & Legal

We publish our expansion plan, because clients ask and because a plan stated is easier to hold us to than a plan implied.

Most firms announce an office after it opens. We would rather set out the sequence, the conditions and the reasoning, so that a client deciding whether to build a long relationship with us can see where the platform is going and judge whether it is going there for good reasons.

The sequence is deliberate. Every stage funds the next, no stage opens before it has revenue behind it, and no jurisdiction is entered without the licence that jurisdiction requires. We would rather arrive late and correctly.

01

Stage one, now. Corridor desks from India

Six regional desks in operation, each led by a partner, each handling inbound and outbound work in its corridor. All execution takes place in India, which is where the licence, the expertise and the cost advantage all sit. This stage requires no foreign registration and it is where the great majority of cross-border Indian work is properly done.

02

Stage two. Relationship firms in each corridor

Documented reciprocal arrangements with independent firms in the jurisdictions our clients use most, so that a client with a question outside Indian law reaches somebody the same day rather than a search engine. Names are published as arrangements are signed.

03

Stage three. Representative presence, ASEAN first

Singapore is the first destination, for reasons that are structural rather than sentimental. It is the arbitration seat and the holding jurisdiction for a large share of India-facing capital, and its regulator publishes a clear route. A representative office there may undertake liaison and promotional work only and may not provide legal services, so the first presence will be exactly that, with all advice continuing to be given from India. Target window to be confirmed.

04

Stage four. Licensed practice

A Foreign Law Practice licence from the Singapore Legal Services Regulatory Authority, permitting the practice of Indian law in and from Singapore, with registered foreign lawyers and the professional indemnity cover the regime requires. Thereafter the Gulf, then the United Kingdom and the European corridors, then a Foreign Legal Consultant registration in the United States beginning with New York, each on its own regulator’s terms and each only once the corresponding desk has carried its own cost for four consecutive quarters. Windows to be confirmed.

Africa

The India to Africa corridor is under-served by Indian firms and materially larger than its coverage suggests, particularly in East Africa and West African infrastructure and manufacturing. Our approach there is desk led and relationship led rather than office led, because the jurisdictional spread does not reward a single office and the work does not require one.

The regulatory basis

The Bar Council of India’s amended rules on foreign lawyers and foreign law firms, notified in May 2025, operate on reciprocity and confirm that Indian advocates and Indian law firms may register as foreign lawyers or foreign law firms abroad while retaining the right to practise Indian law in India. That dual registration mechanism is what makes this sequence a regulated pathway rather than an ambition, and it is the reason the plan is published with dates rather than with adjectives.

Where we work

Europe Desk

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