Law Firm of the Year 2020
Stirred by the pandemic, as the legal industry continues to recover, it finds itself in the middle of chaos, with even more stormy change on the horizon. Despite the radically shifting market, the legal industry has remained fundamentally unchanged. Present times are calling out for a top-to-bottom imagination of the legal sector- from digital transformation to changing clientele expectations and current business model. The outline of the post-Covid legal world has started taking shape, on the determination and hard work of entrepreneurs like Ashish Deep Verma, who are taking upon the challenges and upskilling the legal industry with their entrepreneurial venture.
What differentiates Ashish from many other ‘entrepreneurs’ is this-
He doesn’t just talk the talk – He walks the walk.
The need to fix problems and deep inefficiencies encountered in the legal industry fueled Ashish’s dream to open his Law Firm, Vidhiśāstras-Advocates & Solicitors. Contributing everything to start your entrepreneurial venture sounds great, but practically it is hard-hearted. The new path was ruthless; establishing a competent litigation Law Firm was quite tough, to begin with. Encountering unheard-of challenges became a routine during the early days- It was a tough spot to be in. Later on, learning from mistakes, remodelling exhaustive research and preparing to the fundamentals, the team started converting challenges into opportunities successfully which resulted in developing further confidence and today, the Team is professionally equipped to face any legal encounter and they try their finest to cater to the precise requirements of the clients.
Vidhiśāstras-Advocates & Solicitors at a glance
The Journey of Vidhiśāstras-Advocates & Solicitors has been hard-earned and the proud moment came when it was Awarded as the Emerging Law Firm of Asia by Russian Asian Legal Association in 2018 and the Turning point has been the Collaboration with the most Reputed Law Firms of Europe, Russia, Hong Kong, Singapore and UAE and the United Kingdom in terms of Immigration Law and Commercial matters but a real achievement for them and will always be their client’s satisfaction.
Vidhiśāstras-Advocates & Solicitors has built a solid high-end litigation practice, in consonance with its services to focus on more high-end corporate work. A good chunk of its mandate comes from an international base while its domestic clients include a vivid range of corporate moguls.
Remarkable expertise in the field of Immigration Law, Arbitration Law and Corporate and Commercial Disputes are embedded in the firm’s DNA.
Expertise
• Corporate Law & Commercial Law
• Intellectual Property Law
• Alternate Dispute Resolution• Immigration law
• Litigation
• Real Estate
While having its roots in New Delhi, Vidhiśāstras-Advocates & Solicitors has managed to carve out a strong presence in Noida, Jaipur, Mumbai and Kolkata along with collaborations at Russia, Malta, Switzerland, Cyprus, Spain, Portugal, UAE, Hong Kong, Singapore, China and the United Kingdom.
Ashish shares some insight into his journey and how he has transitioned to an entrepreneur!
Edited Excerpts
How did you start?
To be true, it was a big talk and a challenging mission! The day I joined Law School I was determined and focused to open a Law Firm for which I observed the basic principles and strategies during the court proceedings regularly since Law School days which paved the way and helped me attaining strength to execute the same.
What are the ethics and principles that your firm follows to achieve success?
Hard work, Honesty and Sincerity are the principles and ethical values we carry along when we serve our clients. Client’s Satisfaction is our priority and at the end of the day which we aim to attain with instantaneous and speedy disposal of work after assessing the requirements of clients and act upon effectively and immediately.
Which areas of the law field intrigues you the most? Also, how has been your experience working with different firms? Name some clients associated with the firm.
Litigation is our field though we have different sectors covering different fields of Law at the Firm and respective Team takes care of the same respectively. Whenever you work with or against Top Notch Firms like Amarchand/ Khaitan/ Singh & Associates you always have sharp and brilliant Team of Lawyers and that makes you learn inevitably. Unfortunately, we are bound by Non-disclosure cum confidentiality agreement that we maintain with our clients and cannot reveal their identity but we are working for a few Giant Corporate Companies, Research Institutes and Government Organisations and with many reputed International Law Firms, Individual Clients and operating with quite many startups and assisting them.
How has your firm strived during the abnormalities created by the pandemic?
Pandemic has been an unprecedented encounter but at the same time, we deliberated upon the fact that we are self-sufficient with the added advantage of technology and we developed and reflected promptly in establishing our communication with clients on Portals such as WebEx and other similar Applications to strictly follow the guidelines during the lockdown and it stemmed positively and we settled quite effectively in handling the matters as well as regular virtual court proceedings and delivered quite efficaciously. We covered physical court hearings as well primarily at Mumbai, Pune, Manipur, Jaipur and Kolkata maintaining standard norms of social distancing and guidance issued by Government of different State protocols respectively.
In all these years of your practice, what according to you are the challenge(s)/setback(s) that the corporate law firms/consultant usually face and how does can one become immune to them?
Challenges are always there but when you have a formidable team that works together half of the problems stand solved. An effective, sincere and hardworking Team is the basic requirement behind the success of any Law firm and once the same is achieved with Trust and Confidence then there is no look back. In our team Kamya Ritu Verma, Talha Abdul Rahman, Samuel Haokip, Abhayveer Sharma, Anshul Pratap Singh, Vijay Singh, Upendra Nagar, Urvashi Yadav and Bharti Sharma, Kanika Bhatnagar are the backbone of the Firm and they ensure that effective work is executed in consonance with the Team and keeping clients in a circlet.
How has the corporate habitat changed over the years? Also, what major changes can be expected (like changes in labor laws) post the pandemic ends?
The corporate sector has emerged as a necessity in the phase of constant moving globalization and the consequence of the same could be witnessed in development in each concerning sector especially in cross border transactions and global visibility. Pandemic and Post Pandemic phase for time being is going to be stressful for the companies as well as their employees and that’s how we could witness a sudden increase concerning respective conflict of interests. Not much change could be anticipated in terms of statutory provisions at present but certain contractual terms must be looked into and kept in mind to safeguard genuine interests of parties concerned keeping in view the clause concerning Force Majeure specifically.
What are the plans for the company?
Yes, though we have Pan India operational offices and satellite offices across the globe, very soon in 2021, we are coming up with our well-established Corporate office in Alpathum at Noida which will be maintained solitary for Corporate Sector and to serve our Corporate Clients and further investments have been made at upcoming projects of Cyberthum, Noida and primarily keeping in view the increased requirement of work every other day.
Lastly, what are the necessary skills the lawyers of tomorrow need to acquire to place themselves ahead of the pack?
Join Court proceedings or a Law Firm from day one of your Law School and you will find that at the end of the Law School you are already ahead of many as this is the field where you have to work with indomitable determination, discipline and with sincerity and when you keep theory in hand with practical experience it’s always an added advantage. Eventually, if you could keep in mind the famous quote of T.S. Eliot “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”
Leadership Comrade
Kamya Ritu Verma
Ms Kamya Ritu Verma has been dynamically taking care of the Corporate and Commercial segment of the Firm with prime focus on Mergers and Acquisition, Regulatory Compliances, Due diligence for Corporate Clients with expertise in Corporate and Commercial law, Immigration law, Alternate Dispute resolution, Investment and Finance, Energy and Infrastructure, and Intellectual Property law.
Talha Abdul Rahman
Mr Rahman enrolled with the Bar in 2008 and is an eminent Advocate on Record (2017) of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India. He presently appears regularly before Supreme Court, Delhi High Court, NCLT, NCLAT, and NCDRC.
Samuel Haokip
Mr Haokip has a keen area of interests in operating Immigration and Advising on Mergers & Acquisitions and Law related to Intellectual Property matters and has been assisting the firm in its overall growth and development.
Abhayveer Sharma
Mr Sharma is a core member at Vidhiśāstras-Advocates & Solicitors as Partner heading their Mohali Office. His current area of expertise includes Writs, Recovery Law, Property and Land Acquisition, Labor Law, Insolvency Law.
