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Fourteen years ago, Berjis Desai (pictured) and his team of 15 lawyers joined the law firm of J. Sagar Associates (JSA). On March 31, 2017, observing the retirement norms of the firm, Desai stepped down from JSA, severing all ties with the partnership that had emerged as one of the country’s largest legal firms. "I would say that JSA has been an experiment to a large extent and Jyoti (Sagar’s) vision has been far ahead of his times — no family controls, no dominant individual controls, there is a retirement age... The firm has completed 25 years and this year has been the best so far in terms of revenue and profits,” Desai was quoted by Pallavi Saluja of barandbench.com, April 5, 2017.
He was JSA’s managing partner till April 2016 and senior partner thereafter. "It is retirement from JSA but not retirement from the profession,” he told the website.
"I am not setting up any law firm or retaining any lawyers. I will focus on private client practice – advising promoter families, trust planning, will, succession planning, family disputes, something that I have been doing for the last several years. I will also do fast track commercial arbitration where I will act as an arbitrator,” said Desai seated in his new office at Nariman Point.
Recalling his years at JSA, Desai told barandbench: "As I have repeatedly said, the essence of managing a large law firm is that you have to be an excellent ego manager. Your IQ (intelligence) may be poor but your EQ (emotional quotient) should be very high in order to really bind people together, that is a very rare commodity.
"Everybody is becoming aspirationally very aggressive… So now to manage all that, to keep everyone blended together, to make them think of the institution, that is where the challenge lies. These challenges are even being felt by family-owned firms. Those days are gone where a senior partner will not challenge the authority of the family owner of the firm.”
When asked his "thoughts on the entry of foreign law firms and future of Indian law firms,” the solicitor replied, "I still continue to believe that foreign law firms are not going to set up here in a hurry and that international commercial arbitration and ‘fly in and fly out’ business will go on. But as far as the actual setting up of a firm, I still feel that day is about five years away or maybe more... It’s not that Indian law firms will simply vanish from the market or simply cease to exist, but things will not be the same...”
In 2014, London based RSG Consulting ranked JSA number four in India (AZB and Partners founded by Zia Mody ranked second, Wadia Gandhy 11, Bharucha and Partners 15, Mulla and Mulla 22 and Gagrat 40) while the Asian Legal Business (ALB) magazine rated JSA number six for 2015.
According to ALB, "Indian law firms are tiny compared to China and even South Korea and Singapore. The largest Chinese law firm, Yingke employs 4,547 lawyers, in contrast, the largest Indian law firm, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, has 601, AZB 375, JSA 302, Wadia Gandhy 134, and Mulla and Mulla 122. The largest revenue for any law firm, according to Wikipedia, is shown by Los Angeles based Latham and Watkins with an annual billing of USD 2.65 billion.
Desai has been practising transactional and dispute resolution laws for the last 37 years, notes his bio data. He graduated with first class honors from the Elphinstone College and stood first in the University of Bombay in the LLB exam. He was awarded the Rotary International Scholarship to study postgraduate law at Cambridge University, UK where he secured a starred first. He also topped the solicitor exams conducted by the Bombay Incorporated Law Society, notes the write-up.
Desai is as an independent director of leading listed and non-listed public companies in India including The Great Eastern Shipping Company Limited, Adani Enterprises Limited, Edelweiss Capital Limited, Praj Industries Limited, Himatsingka Seide Limited, Man Infraconstruction Limited and Emcure Pharmaceuticals Limited.
A former journalist with the Mumbai Samachar, Desai is a part-time writer and columnist. His column "Bawa Musings” appears in every issue of Parsiana. He told barandbench he wanted to do some "serious writing, both fiction and non-fiction… I have some unpublished fiction, which I hope to publish.” His other interest includes breeding of thoroughbred horses and study of comparative religion.
Desai’s advise to aspiring young lawyers is that there is great scope in the profession but humility, patience and the "ability to sacrifice the short term for the long term and the ability to evolve professional partnership and relationships” is crucial, he told the website.
"Excellent career opportunities abound in large law firms for Parsis as they are perceived as possessing better skill sets in drafting documents, communicating with clients and appearing before courts and tribunals,” Desai informed Parsiana via email. "Parsis are also presumed to have high integrity. Joining the chambers of a senior counsel is for those who can wait patiently and have the alacrity to think on their feet. Pursuing the five-year law course at one of the National Law Schools (NLS) outside Bombay is a must. This may deter some Parsi boys who don’t want to be away from Mummy, dhansak and bikes. Parsi girls are really rocking in law. There is intense competition now to secure a place in the NLSs through the common entrance test after 12th grade. Today law pays much better to freshers than any other field.”