INDIA

Team size
The number one team size amongst India’s In-House Community is two-to-five, at 41.3 percent. Just over a quarter (25.3 percent) stated that they’re in teams of between six and 20, with 16 percent working in groups of 21-50. 12 percent work alone and the outstanding 5.3 percent work in teams of more than 50 lawyers.

Due mainly to an increasing workload, over half (60 percent) of those surveyed expect their in-house teams to expand over the next 12 months. Other justifications for anticipated growth included the work getting more complex, as well as escalating in volume: “We are witnessing a growing economy. It’s a booming market with new business and new expansion, so our team of people needs to be increased in order to meet the new challenges, work and tighter deadlines, etc.”.

Almost all of the rest (37.1 percent) assume that their teams will remain the same size, referencing a steady flow of work, cost pressures and decisions from management, while the small proportion of 2.9 percent that believe that their teams will shrink do so as a result of expecting more work to be outsourced over the next year, cost and an overall downsizing of the company. Though the number of lawyers expecting shrinkage is small, it is larger than last year, as no one in India predicted this in last year’s survey.

Recruitment
One thing that has remained the same in the jurisdiction is means of hiring, with legal recruiters (44 percent), referrals from other in-house lawyers (32 percent) and job websites (28 percent) being first, second and third respectively. Referrals from external counsel (25.3 percent) was also a popular method.

KEY ISSUES AND CONCERNS
A repeating key concern in India is compliance, with some stating that it is hard to convey the importance of legal clauses to their business units. Others said that time constraints can be a frustration, as business colleagues often want immediate solutions to problems that require more care. This, in many cases, results in time management becoming harder, as counsel have to juggle between mitigating current legal concerns and preventing future ones.

One in-house counsel summarised the challenge for the many in-house counsel in India: “Local legal knowledge, risk management in multiple jurisdictions, and effectively contributing to the bottom line of the organisation”.

Over the coming 12 months, India’s in-house counsel feel that managing compliance issues will continue to prevail, not only due to not being able to get their message across, but also as a result of continually evolving laws. Also, many noted that they are perceived in poor light by some members of the business team as they do not generate revenue, so they feel that proving their value to the business is tough: “In an advisory role, in-house counsel at times faces limitations in work exposure, leading to a restricted ability to innovate or improvise with new ideas, or to venture into new and evolving areas of practice”.

Working with external counsel
While most expect their in-house teams to grow over the next year, it seems that the demand for external help for many is plateauing, as 46.6 percent predicted that they will use law firms about the same amount over the coming 12 months. Many stated that this was simply due to a shift towards in-house work and foreseeing that they have the capacity to cope with it themselves, though budgetary constraints were also a factor. It was also mentioned that it is frustrating trying to get responses from external counsel in a timely manner.

These were also popular reasons given by the 16.4 percent of those working in-house in India to foreshadow cutting back on the work handled externally in the future. The 37 percent planning to increase reliance on firms do so based on new laws, new projects and business expansion, sometimes into new areas.

As was the case last year, expertise in a specific area is the most important factor for India’s In-House Community when deciding where to seek external help, with 73.3 percent of respondents saying this is a requirement. Responsiveness, at 57.3 percent, is also a major concern to those surveyed, as are fees (46.7 percent), reputation of a law firm (40 percent) and relationship between company and law firm (30.7 percent). (Figure 13)

42.7 percent of those surveyed are of the perception that external counsel fees in India are excessive. Though it is once again the most prominent drawback according to the In-House Community, it is a far less common response than it was last year, when 66.7 percent of respondents saw this as a key hindrance. Other concerning issues include a lack of updates on company matters, which 38.7 percent have noticed; unexplained fees, according to 29.3 percent, which was the second largest concern in last year’s survey; and a lack of involvement from partners, an issue found apparent by 24 percent of those asked. (Figure 14)