Sarosh Zaiwalla, name partner of London firm Zaiwalla & Co, has teamed up with two leading Indian lawyers to launch the Indian Law International Partnership (ILIP), in a bid to take advantage of the expected liberalisation of the south Asian country's legal services market.

The deal sees Mr Zaiwalla link up with projects and infrastructure specialist Hemant Sahai of Hemant Sehai Associates and litigation lawyer Alkanshree Dahar of India Law Offices, and gives ILIP access to 36 lawyers across offices in London, New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Goa.



The partnership aims to advise UK, US and European clients with business interests in India or who are looking to invest there. It will only advise on Indian law and business practices, and will have a particular focus on infrastructure work such as road, rail and airport construction projects.


Mr Zaiwalla, who is also a qualified Indian lawyer, will handle arbitration work, an area that is expected to grow as the government and local companies increasingly demand the inclusion of a contractual clause requiring arbitration to take place in New Delhi.


He said: 'British companies may find themselves at a disadvantage in such a situation. With ILIP, they have a firm that can advise them but which also has a London base.'


Mr Zaiwalla, whose London firm will continue as a separate entity, added that he expected India to open up to British and other overseas law firms in the near future, despite opposition from local bars which fear that the livelihoods of local lawyers will come under threat.


'The new Indian prime minister - Manmohan Singh - is very much open to inward investment and liberalisation of its markets,' he said.


'We want to be able to compete when that happens - and that might be very soon.'


In July this year, a nine-strong delegation of Indian bar leaders visited the UK to discuss liberalisation of a market many City firms have been lobbying for years to enter (see [2004] Gazette, 22 July, 6).