Which Indian law firms are the best to work for? Take this Vahura survey

Vahura has launched the second edition of the Best Law Firms to Work Survey (BLF).

As with the first edition of the survey in 2018, the second edition focuses on creating a platform to allow Indian law firm professionals a chance to be heard on the gaps in the system, the challenges they face, what firms are doing well and their vision on the future of work.

Over the past decade, law firms in India have grown exponentially in terms of revenue, size, and brand. Since then, they have focused on creating pools of talent by offering competitive compensation and the opportunity to advise and counsel clients on market-leading and industry-defining matters.

Vahura's unique vantage point in advising professionals and firms gives it an acute understanding of the challenges that law firm professionals face in the workplace. The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified some of these issues and given rise to new challenges. The BLF is an initiative to take stock of where we are, with the opportunity to shine a light on areas of development and change.

Such insights are surveyed through a comprehensive and strictly confidential questionnaire that allows professionals to rate their firms with respect to six key indicators.

The 2022 survey will also have a particular focus on how law firms across the country have chosen to prioritize the mental health of their professionals, particularly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The results of the survey will give the legal community a composite view on how professionals across the country perceive their firms as a workplace of choice.

“The effects of the pandemic have compelled law firms globally to rework their cultures and policies to redefine the future of work. In India, we have observed a number of law firms that have taken some positive steps in this regard by implementing policies on mental health of their professionals, as well as transitioning to hybrid workplace models. However, our conversations with law firm professionals indicate that there continue to remain gaps that need to be addressed to create workplace cultures that are more sustainable, and people friendly. With the BLF, our hope is to create opportunities for law firm professionals to voice their insights on what law firms are doing right, and what they could do better,” said Ritvik Lukose, Vahura’s Co-Founder and CEO.

The ranking process includes a confidential survey, data analysis and an independent audit leading to the rankings.

What are the ranking factors?

Culture

Culture encompasses the character and personality of a firm. It is what makes the firm unique and is the product of its values, traditions, beliefs, interactions, behaviours, and attitudes.

Prestige

Prestige refers to the level of fulfilment a professional feels on account of being associated with a firm for the respect it commands in the industry, with clients and peers.

Satisfaction

Satisfaction is attributed to the feeling of achievement that a professional experiences when they believe that they are working on something worthwhile. It signifies the extent to which a professional feels self-motivated, content and satisfied with the quality of their role in a firm and the responsibilities towards the clients they work with.

Rewards

Rewards and recognition refer to a firm's ability to ensure distributional and procedural fairness in rewarding their lawyers for their time and efforts. This includes rewards that are monetary in nature, as well as recognition of their efforts and potential in ways that transcend monetary rewards.

Work-Life Balance

Work-life balance refers to a firm's ability to understand a team member's commitments beyond their professional life. This involves ensuring the provision of policies that are focused on reasonable accommodations for the professional's personal commitments, while ensuring that the delivery of work is not impacted from a client perspective.

Firm leadership

Firm leadership is looked upon as the ability of a law firm's leadership to develop and communicate a clear strategy and vision for the firm. This includes setting and achieving challenging goals; taking swift, inclusive and decisive actions; following through on promises, and inspiring team members to perform well.

Given the sensitivity of the questions that the survey poses, all responses will be completely anonymous and cannot be traced back individually to participants.

Vahura has also partnered with Stakeholder Empowerment Services, a leading proxy advisory firm, which shall independently audit the results of the survey prior to being published.

“The 2022 survey will also have a particular focus on how law firms across the country have chosen to prioritise the mental health of their professionals, particularly in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, in an effort to recognize the law firms that do this well. With this, the BLF establishes itself as the definitive guide to the best law firms to work for in India,” said Balanand Menon, Head of Consulting at Vahura.

Find the results of the 2018 rankings here.

To learn more about the survey, click here or access the survey directly.

For more information, reach out to:

Zarah Eapen: zarah@vahura.com, +91-80-4922-2444;

Prajoy Dutta: prajoy@vahura.com, +91-80-4922-2444.