As a lawyer, depending on the jurisdiction you’re in, you might face legal issues totally different from other jurisdictions. Considering various economic, cultural, and social factors existing in every country, naturally, the legal matters occurring within them would be dissimilar. Of course, as the countries move towards globalization at an accelerated speed – due to the growth of communication technologies – you can see more uniformity among legal issues taking place in different jurisdictions, more than before. And with the recent pandemic of the Coronavirus Disease, this uniformity has never been higher. Yet, with all that said, rules applied to people in varied jurisdictions have considerable differences, especially in personal matters such as marriage and divorce. That’s why it is of high importance to know the relationship between jurisdictions in specific cases.
In the following pages, we will focus on the relationship between jurisdictions of the UK and India/Pakistan, and will propose the most important points that you should take into consideration as an international lawyer or as a client with a Multi-Jurisdictional case!
Legal Industry Development in the UK
As the 21st century entered its third decade, the legal industry in the UK kept walking on the path of development, thanks to the growth of legal tech and the rise of legal startups. According to TheCityUK, “Investment in UK LawTech has tripled over the past two years” to the extent that “The UK has become a global hub for LawTech”.
Long gone are the days when big law firms were ruling over the legal industry, and procedures were done in an old-fashioned and time-consuming way. Since the Talented and newly graduated lawyers tending to participate in new startups, these law firms are starting to notice the evolution of the market and to Create Innovation Strategies in order to keep up with the rapid change of the legal industry.
The situation in Indian or Pakistani jurisdictions is pretty much the same but at a more gradual pace. The number of legal-tech startups and the tendency towards investing in those areas has been rising to a greater amount.
Legal Market Trends in the UK
The pandemic of COVID-19 affected people’s lives in every aspect, and the legal matters are no exception. The world learned to accommodate the public distance rules and to sort out a new approach to the problem, distancing itself from the traditional procedures. As a result, Online meetings are taking the place of in-person office visits and both clients and lawyers seem to be more comfortable with that. In consequence, the legal market trends in the UK are emerging directly influenced by the current needs of the legal society. Here are some of the top legal market trends in the UK:
- Remote working
- Freelancing
- Outsourcing
- Digitization of documents
- Cybersecurity
Today, with the remarkable advances in virtual office management systems and digital communication tools in general, remote working and freelancing are no longer a rare phenomenon in the legal industry. The more flexibility and creativity that teleworking offers, appeals to many lawyers all around the world. Working remotely cuts off transportation and office supplies expenses, and makes room for allocating the budget for giving stronger and more efficient services to the clients. Furthermore, with the growth of remote working, the opportunity to work internationally through different jurisdictions is available for a vast majority of lawyers, more than ever. For instance, if an Indian origin client living in the UK, has an inheritance dispute case back in his hometown, hiring a lawyer from India would be a far more logical decision than getting aid from a lawyer who isn’t familiar with the specific rules relevant to the client’s jurisdiction. New online legal services such as LegaMart have encapsulated the whole process of finding, communicating, and hiring a lawyer in your desired jurisdiction, in their platforms. Hence, wherever you are with a few simple clicks you can get your needed legal advice.
Community of Indian and Pakistani Lawyers in the UK
Many lawyers prefer to work on their own hook, without being a part of a legal team in law firms or Corporates. The reason is that they rather act freely, based on their own will, and create their specific professional path. As a Corporate lawyer, you might have experienced that sometimes, by the change of the main outlooks, strategies, or fields of work of the Corporate, you’re no longer interested in the emerging topics, but you have to keep doing your job due to your obligation to the corporate. Although working alone is an understandable perspective, having a community of related lawyers and communicating with them should not be neglected, especially for young and beginner lawyers.
Indian and Pakistani lawyers should build up their own specific community as well. As an Indian or Pakistani lawyer, you might run into cases in which you don’t have adequate information. By being part of such communities, you are privileged with having access to data or details from resembling cases that have been shared, or you can ask for guidance from members of the community. By joining new legal platforms such as Legamart, you’ll have access to a private community of legal specialists and build up professional connections with lawyers living in your country, or originally from there. Making links with other members of your community has the advantage of promoting and making you noticeable in international stages.
What Should You Take into Consideration about Indian and Pakistani Lawyers in the UK?
The number of British companies investing in developing countries such as India or Pakistan is rising day by day. Indian/Pakistani companies are also looking forward to collaborating with companies based in the UK in order to expand their international market. Consequently, the requirement for Indian/Pakistani lawyers is increasing too. As a client – whether you’re a company owner with oversees business issues or you’re just dealing with a cross-border dispute – when you need an Indian/Pakistani lawyer to provide you legal advice or present your case at court, there are a few tips you should definitely consider:
First of all, speaking more than one language is no longer an advantage, but a must-have. Successful International lawyers are going for learning their third or fourth language or intensifying their verbal or written skills in the language they currently know. Therefore, when you’re searching for a lawyer, choose the one with great knowledge of both English and the language of the jurisdiction your dispute is taking place in.
Also, having strong knowledge of Indian/Pakistani regulations is an obviously needed qualification. In order to hand over your case to a lawyer, you should be confident that he or she has enough familiarity with your desired jurisdiction’s rules. Sometimes neglecting even basic rules of protocol, would aggravate the dispute. The international lawyer (TIL) gives an interesting example: “an American salesman who presented a potential Saudi Arabian client with a multimillion-dollar proposal in a pigskin binder, considered vile in many Muslim cultures, ended up blacklisted from working with Saudi businesses.”
Finally, a background of work experience in India or Pakistan could be considered in order to give you perspectives of the abilities and fields of expertise of your probable lawyer. New legal platforms have facilitated the process of exploring through many lawyers, with observing their profiles and comparing them, without any need of having referrals.
Top Indian and Pakistani Lawyers in the UK
In this article, we tried to depict the required facts about international lawyers, focusing on Indian and Pakistani lawyers. Now in this section, we introduce some of the top Indian/Pakistani lawyers according to MARSANS.CO.UK and LONDONIUM SOLICITORS.CO.UK:
Ravi Rajagopalanac
Ravi practices before the National Company Law Tribunals and the High Courts of India in the niche areas of Corporate Commercial, Insolvency & Restructuring law, working at the intersection of Law & Finance. Ravi has worked, consulted & delivered projects, managed relationships & led corporate initiatives for 25+ years in multiple geographies including the US and the UK, engaging with marquee clients and Fortune 50 companies including JP Morgan Chase, MetLife, eBay, Intuit, IBM, and McKinsey & Co even while learning and distilling best practices and principles from these institutions.
Kumar Subramani
Kumar is a Solicitor and Accredited mediator in England and an Advocate in India. Kumar’s areas of expertise are commercial and residential property, corporate and personal immigration, corporate law, commercial and civil litigation.
With his vast experience and good head for how business works he founded KTS LEGAL Solicitors & Advocates in the year 2011 when he first set up the office at Enfield Town, North London. With determination and hard work he succeeded and set up a second branch of his firm in 2014 at Oxford Street, Central London. In November 2019 he expanded further with a third branch that was set up at Palmers Green, London. He is a founder and Managing Director of MARSANS Solicitors and Advocates, and spear heads the law firm in the right direction with focus, skill, determination and hard work.
NAVID RAJA
Navid qualified as a solicitor in July 2019, after completing his training contract at Healys. He acts for commercial landlords and tenants in a broad range of commercial property matters. Having graduated with a law degree from Middlesex University he later went on to complete the LPC at the College of Law. Prior to joining Healys Navid worked as a Remortgage and Transfer of Equity case handler. Navid is also fluent in Urdu.
Rohit Kumar
Rohit is a member of the Bar Council of Delhi, India. He has a perfect experience of 11 years of different legal positions, including in-house counsel, litigation counsel, and compliance management. Based on the latter, Rohit has worked in different jurisdictions, including the USA. He has an academic background in Corporate Law. During his career path, corporate legal advisory services and contract drafting have been the main focuses. Kumar has excellent negotiation skills in addition to legal research, corporate investigations, and regulatory investigations and audit. Rohit can be the perfect lawyer giving you needed legal advice regarding your corporate and company law cases.
S.Venkateswar Patnaik
MR Patnaik does his private practice in corporate laws of India. He teaches management subjects and advises on legal matters as per the parties’ request for fees chargeable in advance. He is a registered Advocate in the Bar Council of the State of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad, India.
Shweta Khanna
Shweta is an advocate and solicitor with over 14 years of experience in corporate commercial law. In 2016, she founded a boutique law advisory practice SDK Legal.
She has extensive experience in general corporate transactions and advisory, having worked in the Corporate Legal Cell of the Aditya Birla Group and a leading Indian law firm Mulla & Mulla & Craigie Blunt & Caroe, prior to founding SDK Legal. She is a legal consultant and acts on a retainer basis for many clients for regular corporate advisory work and standardisation of their legal contracts.
Devesh Tuli
Devesh is a practicing advocate enrolled with the bar council of Delhi and a member of the Bar Association of Delhi High court, appearing on behalf of his clients in all courts across Delhi/NCR. Devesh’s experience includes representing clients in criminal and civil disputes for the intended results per client expectations. His expertise is in criminal litigation and civil litigation.
Devesh also cooperates with different companies for drafting their contracts/MOU/Agreements and legal notices. He can be an excellent match for your advocacy request if you have a criminal or family law-related case—also one of the best experts for your contract law cases.
Romil Mehta
Romil is an expert in the IP section. He has worked in many different aspects of this field, including trademark-related advisory, Drafting privacy policy and confidentiality agreements, Advising an e-commerce website on trademark application under Madrid Protocol for filing trademarks in other jurisdictions and Drafting IP agreements, assignments, and licenses
He is an IP lawyer, experienced in different fields including medical services, training services, hospitality and event management services, and book publication.
Providing advice for domestic and international clients and coordinating with counsels from other countries, has made Romil a perfect choice for your multijurisdictional IP cases.
Qaisar Zaman
Qaisar is a Pakistanian qualified lawyer. He is a member of the Punjab Bar Council and Lahore Bar Council. Qaisar is also a member of the Lahore High Court Bar Council.
He has worked in different law areas and on legal cases in many various industries during his career path, namely environment, labour, food, consumer, and competition laws.
His cooperation with NESTLÉ PAKISTAN LTD as the Legal Affairs Advisor is one of his positions in the food industry.
He has strong leadership and guiding skills. Apart from that, his diversified range of experience has made him a perfect match for almost every kind of legal case you might have within the Pakistan jurisdiction.
Ria Kotian
Ria is a Paralegal and assists the Property, India Desk, and the Litigation Team at Marsans. She is a law graduate of Jindal Global Law School, India, and has completed her master’s from King’s College London. Having studied and worked with multiple jurisdictions including India, UK, Poland, and the US on subject areas such as Family Law, Business Law, Debt Recovery, and Property laws, she is quick to adapt to the needs and requirements of clients in various jurisdictions.
How to Choose the Suitable Lawyer among Other Options
In order to find the perfect match for your legal case among a range of different lawyers, don’t forget to review their personal introductions on legal platforms and social media. It’s not about hiring the most expensive lawyer, but choosing the one with your expected skills and characteristics. Sometimes an expensive lawyer with an admirable reputation won’t be able to meet your desired expectations. For that reason, personalizing your options based on relevant skills and experiences is vital. Here at Legamart, we’re ready to help you to find your suitable lawyer.
