"A start-up with cash flow" is how Cyril Shroff (pictured) describes the new venture he created following the demise of Indian behemoth Amarchand Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co, the firm he managed with his brother Shardul, earlier this year.

After a dispute between the brothers and joint managing partners over ownership, Cyril launched his own firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas in March, with offices in the South and South West of the country, including Mumbai and Delhi. His brother's firm - Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co - has offices in Delhi, Gurgaon, Kolkata and Ahmedabad as part of the break-away arrangements.

Cyril has since expanded to open a second base in Delhi with 100 lawyers, 90 of which were lateral hires, and is aiming to reach 1,000 lawyers by 2018 - up from 600 at present. At the time of legacy Amarchand Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co's split, which came three years before the firm's 100th anniversary, it was India's largest law firm with 90 partners across eight cities.

Although he is in the process of completing a branding exercise with Boston Consulting Group, to be unveiled shortly, Shroff wants his new venture to be viewed as a continuation of the old, but with a new email address.

"In terms of how other international law firms or corporates are looking at us, they are not seeing it as a new firm they are seeing it as a slightly renamed old firm" he states.

In setting up his new firm, Shroff has devised a simple governance structure placing himself solely at the helm as managing partner overseeing the 10-year strategy. He is in the final stages of pulling together an advisory board made up of external market advisers, in addition to forming several committees of internal partners.

A new constitution and deeds have already been written up, overseen by an international law firm in order to develop best practices.

"Law firms are very political organisations. We didn't want to waste time in the first five years on any internal issues, we wanted to focus on the marketplace," explains Shroff. "It's a blessing in disguise; we are free of international restrictions and with a renewed purpose."

A 10-year plan

When talking strategy Shroff is very clear. Dubbed ‘Focus India' his aim for the next five years is to stay at the top of the domestic market, taking advantage of what he views as a transformative time for India.

"India is at a point for further growth - its demographics and political leadership are all aligned for growth," he believes.

The firm is positioning itself to stay at the fore in growing domestic sectors such as infrastructure M&A, banking and restructuring.

It is also benefitting from an Indian government scheme to encourage international businesses to manufacture in India. It has set up special units to help companies understand the manufacturing environment in the country, particularly regarding issues such as quality and land.

"If you look at the sheer amount of projects to be set up in India, whether it is ports, airports, roads or railways, it will be more than all of Europe put together. Firms like ours have a big role to play," he adds.

Last year Shardul Shroff told Legal Week that the now defunct firm was considering opening its first international office with Singapore identified as the potential destination of choice. Cyril is taking a longer term view of international expansion - with no international launches planned for the first five years.

Then, at the end of the first phase of Shroff's 10-year strategy he plans to introduce a seven-strong partnership committee alongside the managing partner role. The committee will be made up of international partners as well as two independent figures with a view to considering international options open to the firm.

"[After the first five years] we will have enough bandwidth to start looking at having some kind of sensible presence outside India. Whether that means planting flags or having some other virtual presence we will cross that bridge at the end of five years," he says.

At the end of the 10-year plan the firm will start a mandatory constitutional review which will look at roles including the managing partner post: at this point Shroff will be 65 and will begin to think about succession.

"I don't want to pre-judge anything now," he says."By that time the market will have changed. We don't want to be inflexible when history is changing so fast, so flexibility is inbuilt."

Market liberalisation

Shroff believes that under the management of prime minister Modi there is increasing impetus from government professional bodies for the liberalisation of legal services in the country. At present international firms are forbidden from practising in India in any capacity and can only form relationships with domestic firms on an alliance or referral basis.

However, Shroff feels that there is increasing strength in the demands for liberalisation and the government's willingness to look at the issue.

The liberalisation of the domestic market will allow his and other local firms to begin to charge more for their expertise, Shroff believes, as international law firms push up prices. He does concede however that this may be counter-balanced by an increase in the cost of hiring.

Domestic firms' future roles will be defined by the way international firms choose to enter the market, Shroff believes. "Do they bring in Indian lawyers or do they import people from outside. In the latter case they would struggle. In the former case it would depend on who they hire, local knowledge is so important in India: it is a lot of judgement about how you can estimate and quantify risk and find a practical way forward and that just comes from years of experience in the India market."

With market liberalisation talked about for so long, Shroff is keen to be at the front of the line to take advantage of it if and when it happens. He plans to turn what others may view as a threat to his position into a positive - much in the same way he has approached the demise of the firm he managed with his brother - "It is a comma not a full stop," he concludes.

"A start-up with cash flow" is how Cyril Shroff (pictured) describes the new venture he created following the demise of Indian behemoth Amarchand Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co, the firm he managed with his brother Shardul, earlier this year.

After a dispute between the brothers and joint managing partners over ownership, Cyril launched his own firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas in March, with offices in the South and South West of the country, including Mumbai and Delhi. His brother's firm - Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co - has offices in Delhi, Gurgaon, Kolkata and Ahmedabad as part of the break-away arrangements.

Cyril has since expanded to open a second base in Delhi with 100 lawyers, 90 of which were lateral hires, and is aiming to reach 1,000 lawyers by 2018 - up from 600 at present. At the time of legacy Amarchand Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co's split, which came three years before the firm's 100th anniversary, it was India's largest law firm with 90 partners across eight cities.

Although he is in the process of completing a branding exercise with Boston Consulting Group, to be unveiled shortly, Shroff wants his new venture to be viewed as a continuation of the old, but with a new email address.

"In terms of how other international law firms or corporates are looking at us, they are not seeing it as a new firm they are seeing it as a slightly renamed old firm" he states.

In setting up his new firm, Shroff has devised a simple governance structure placing himself solely at the helm as managing partner overseeing the 10-year strategy. He is in the final stages of pulling together an advisory board made up of external market advisers, in addition to forming several committees of internal partners.

A new constitution and deeds have already been written up, overseen by an international law firm in order to develop best practices.

"Law firms are very political organisations. We didn't want to waste time in the first five years on any internal issues, we wanted to focus on the marketplace," explains Shroff. "It's a blessing in disguise; we are free of international restrictions and with a renewed purpose."

A 10-year plan

When talking strategy Shroff is very clear. Dubbed ‘Focus India' his aim for the next five years is to stay at the top of the domestic market, taking advantage of what he views as a transformative time for India.

"India is at a point for further growth - its demographics and political leadership are all aligned for growth," he believes.

The firm is positioning itself to stay at the fore in growing domestic sectors such as infrastructure M&A, banking and restructuring.

It is also benefitting from an Indian government scheme to encourage international businesses to manufacture in India. It has set up special units to help companies understand the manufacturing environment in the country, particularly regarding issues such as quality and land.

"If you look at the sheer amount of projects to be set up in India, whether it is ports, airports, roads or railways, it will be more than all of Europe put together. Firms like ours have a big role to play," he adds.

Last year Shardul Shroff told Legal Week that the now defunct firm was considering opening its first international office with Singapore identified as the potential destination of choice. Cyril is taking a longer term view of international expansion - with no international launches planned for the first five years.

Then, at the end of the first phase of Shroff's 10-year strategy he plans to introduce a seven-strong partnership committee alongside the managing partner role. The committee will be made up of international partners as well as two independent figures with a view to considering international options open to the firm.

"[After the first five years] we will have enough bandwidth to start looking at having some kind of sensible presence outside India. Whether that means planting flags or having some other virtual presence we will cross that bridge at the end of five years," he says.

At the end of the 10-year plan the firm will start a mandatory constitutional review which will look at roles including the managing partner post: at this point Shroff will be 65 and will begin to think about succession.

"I don't want to pre-judge anything now," he says."By that time the market will have changed. We don't want to be inflexible when history is changing so fast, so flexibility is inbuilt."

Market liberalisation

Shroff believes that under the management of prime minister Modi there is increasing impetus from government professional bodies for the liberalisation of legal services in the country. At present international firms are forbidden from practising in India in any capacity and can only form relationships with domestic firms on an alliance or referral basis.

However, Shroff feels that there is increasing strength in the demands for liberalisation and the government's willingness to look at the issue.

The liberalisation of the domestic market will allow his and other local firms to begin to charge more for their expertise, Shroff believes, as international law firms push up prices. He does concede however that this may be counter-balanced by an increase in the cost of hiring.

Domestic firms' future roles will be defined by the way international firms choose to enter the market, Shroff believes. "Do they bring in Indian lawyers or do they import people from outside. In the latter case they would struggle. In the former case it would depend on who they hire, local knowledge is so important in India: it is a lot of judgement about how you can estimate and quantify risk and find a practical way forward and that just comes from years of experience in the India market."

With market liberalisation talked about for so long, Shroff is keen to be at the front of the line to take advantage of it if and when it happens. He plans to turn what others may view as a threat to his position into a positive - much in the same way he has approached the demise of the firm he managed with his brother - "It is a comma not a full stop," he concludes.