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The Indian legal market remains anchored around Mumbai and New Delhi but continues to mature and in the nature of mandates handled by its law firms. With some of the largest corporates - such as Tata and Reliance - now based in India, and an increased appetite among multinationals to invest in India, competition for legal work is intense.

While full-service heavyweights such as AZB & Partners, Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A. Shroff & Co, Luthra & Luthra and J Sagar Associates dominate the markets in New Delhi and Mumbai, other niche firms such as Karanjawala and Company, 
Tuli & Co and Anand and Anand 
perform well for dispute resolution, insurance and intellectual property respectively.

New firms continue to emerge as groups or individual lawyers leave larger firms; 
in 2011, perhaps the most notable of these 
was Mumbai-based Clasis Law, which was 
formed following a breakaway from ALMT Legal.

While foreign firms are not permitted to establish offices on the ground, many have a focus on India, with an increasing number having dedicated India teams, and routinely 
have informal referral relationships with 
domestic firms. While Allen & Overy LLP 
retains a strong referral relationship with
Trilegal, a number of other so called 
“best friends” relationships between firms have been loosened as cross-referral work has 
dried up and the anticipated liberalisation of 
the market seems a more distant prospect. Clifford Chance’s termination of its 
“best friends” relationship with AZB & Partners is arguably the most high-profile casualty, although the firms remain on good terms.

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