Luthra and Luthra Law Offices India: How one of country's biggest law firms is balancing legacy with change

A year after assuming the role of managing partner at Luthra and Luthra, Harry Chawla has steered one of the biggest law firms in India into new geographies. But what remains unchanged is the 'family' DNA ingrained by the late founder Rajiv Luthra

By Rajiv Singh Forbes India Staff

Published: Aug 26, 2024 01:59:09 PM IST

Updated: Aug 28, 2024 10:01:26 AM IST

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(L-R) Sanjeev Kumar, partner and member management committee at Luthra and Luthra and Harry Chawla, managing partner, Luthra and Luthra. Image: Madhu Kapparath

August 2023. The homecoming had a bloated uneasiness around it. On his first day as managing partner, Harry Chawla could sense the conspicuous absence of the ‘big man.’ His cabin was empty, but Chawla could eerily feel his presence. “His roaring guffaw still reverberates in my ears,” recalls Chawla who had been exploring a comeback gig with his mentor and had finally returned to Luthra and Luthra in August 2023. “It was one of the longest ‘in-the-works’ homecoming talks,” recounts the veteran legal professional who first joined Luthra and Luthra in October 1995, worked with the founder of the legal firm, Rajiv Luthra, for over four years, and after two decades, started his firm Atlas Law Partners in 2016.

A few years into his new role as a founder, the master and the disciple were engaged in fixing the nitty-gritty of the homecoming. “We had been talking for around four to five years,” underlines Chawla, adding that the discussions were loaded with intent. The conversation mostly revolved around the modalities: What would happen to Chawla’s venture once he returns to Luthra and Luthra, one of the pioneers in taxation, corporate law, and the energy sector in India? What would happen to Chawla’s team at Atlas? What would be his new role? “The talks would start in the evening and meander till early next morning,” says Chawla. That’s how the ritual played out over the next few years.

Luthra was keen to get his old pupil back into the family fold. Chawla, who was the fourth lawyer to join Luthra and Luthra in 1995, was also itching to return. Over the next few decades, the camaraderie blossomed. And when both sides explored the comeback gig, requisite ingredients were already present to rustle up a new beginning: Strong intent, a realisation of the need to come together, and the vision to look at the big picture. However, a muffled sense of urgency resulted in a sedate pace.

Then, suddenly, something unexpected happened in July 2023 that hastened Chawla’s homecoming. Rajiv Luthra passed away, and his family, friends, and the legal fraternity went into a state of shock. Chawla felt a void in his life. “I was dazed,” he recalls, adding that he received a call from Luthra’s family.

The directive was straightforward: The protégé was asked to return immediately. Started by Rajiv Luthra in 1990, the eponymous legal firm seized the opportunities unboxed by opening up of India’s economy. Propelled by the zeal of the first-generation lawyer and his sharp insights as a chartered accountant, Luthra and Luthra soon became a name to reckon with in the domestic and international corporate circuit.

By 2015, it emerged as one of the top three corporate legal firms in the country. Eight years later, in August 2023, the legal firm lost its guiding soul and needed a person to fill the boots. The requisite qualifications were laid out: Somebody who could match the founder’s DNA, breathe the company’s ethos, and keep the glory intact.

Chawla ticked all the boxes and joined as the managing partner in August 2023. The right person was at the right place but was seized by a terrible sense of timing. “It was a difficult moment and a huge challenge,” recalls the corporate honcho, underlining two big tasks: legacy and continuity. First, the legal firm was no longer a company. It was an institution and now there was a legacy to be nurtured. Second, Luthra and Luthra still had the trappings of a small organisation. Now, the company needed to expand its footprint without losing its soul. The task was tough, but Chawla was best suited to orchestrate a harmonious balance among past, present, and future. “It was Luthra 2.0,” says Chawla, alluding to his new innings, and the fresh chapter in the law firm.

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Chawla lays out the basics of Luthra 2.0. “We want it to be a lean, mean, and nimble organisation known for cutting-edge innovations and work,” he says, adding that the company opened its Chennai branch in March this year. Chennai is their fifth office in India and the first in the southern region. “Expanding presence across the country is both an opportunity and a challenge,” he says, explaining the paradox.

For close to two-and-a-half decades, the company was confined to Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad. Now, it’s expanding. “As we open new centres, we also need to figure out how large we want to grow,” he underlines. “We don't want to be a very large organization,” he says. The size should be such that everybody in the company has a comfortable work-life balance. “Quality of life matters,” he says, adding that the ethos of the firm has always promoted happiness. “If you're going to be killing yourself at work every day, you won’t be happy,” he says.

Another challenge for the firm is to reinvent constantly. “We need to reinvent every morning, every day,” says Chawla. It’s not easy, he underlines, to strike a fine balance between being excessively competitive and not being overpriced. “We won’t say that we are the smartest lawyers in the world, but we are smartest in what we do,” says Chawla, adding that offering high-quality and distinct service and staying ahead of the curve are demanding and exacting.

Chawla points out another difficult task: Attracting the best talent. Matching the inflated salaries of the startup world opens its own set of problems. “For us, money was not the driving force to join the legal profession. But that was some three decades ago,” says the seasoned legal veteran. Today’s generation, he reckons, presents a mixed picture. Some still want to join the judiciary, and some—taking a cue from their friends in the startup world—want to enrol in private practice, hoping to make quick bucks.

The task for seasoned professionals like Chawla is to instil a sense of realism into the young recruits. “Money doesn't come easy. A dozen unicorns in a country of over a billion-and-a-half population is not an ideal situation. “Many will fall by the wayside,” he says.

Sanjeev Kumar, partner and member management committee at Luthra and Luthra, tells us how priorities and ground realities have changed over the last few decades. Kumar, who joined Luthra and Luthra in 2005, reckons that during his college years, idealism had an edge over realism. “We were made to understand that there are three phases in a lawyer's life,” he says, recounting the training and teaching imparted to the law graduates till the 90s.

The first phase was when a trainee lawyer would learn and not earn. The second phase was when a lawyer’s earnings would match his efforts. “Work hard, put in the extra yards, and you would make money,” he says. The last phase--and this comes after decades of practice—is the golden period when a lawyer’s income is disproportionate to his efforts. “This is the harvest time, and one gets rewarded for decades of hard work and patience,” he says, adding that the three phases are now a thing of the past. “Times have changed, the profession has evolved, and salaries are in sync with the best in the trade,” he says.

What hasn’t changed is the nature of the profession. Chawla explains. “You still need to understand your client’s business, the requirements, and the pain points,” he says. Luthra and Luthra, he underlines, has undertaken a journey of being a non-family managed firm. “Beyond a point, you need to build an institution. That’s how you grow. That’s how the founder wanted us to evolve,” he says, adding that Rajiv Luthra was much more than a founder to him. “He was my elder brother, a dating coach, a marriage counsellor, a golf coach, and everything rolled into one,” he says, adding that Luthra 2.0 will evolve but will never lose its soul. “It will remain a family,” he says.