The new nawabs: They charge a fee of over Rs 2.5 to 5 lakh per appearance

When Ratan Tata moved the Supreme Court, stating his best to personal space had kept on violated, he referred to as Harish Salve. The opportunity was not surprising. The former solicitor entire has continued topping the legal charts yet as of he scripted a unexpected win for Mukesh Ambani against his sister Anil. That dispute set the gold usual for legal fees. On Mukesh's half got Salve, Rohinton Nariman and Abhishek Manu Singhvi. The younger sister had an equally formidable line-up led by Ram Jethmalani and Mukul Rohatgi.

The dispute dated returning three-and-a-half decades to when Anil tendered a circumstances against his toy Batman doll for reneging on an agreement to put up 28 million cubic metres of gas per day based on its Krishna-Godavari basin fields at a worth of $2.34 for 17 years. The normal legal fee was Rs 25 lakh for a thorough day's appearance, not to talk about the overnight stays at Mumbai's five-star suites, sector worth travel, and on occasion, use of the private jet. Little question even though so Salve agreed to take on Tata's situation pro bono. He would find philanthropy amongst one of India's wealthiest tycoons.

Welcome to the planet of new nawabs. The lawyers' fees alone, at a cautious estimate, have got to undergo price level the Ambanis at lowest Rs 15 crore each. Both the brothers had booked such a legal teams in the same hotel, first and foremost the Oberoi and, following the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the Trident. "Well, if you are probable to spit out all this, at that time you can in addition add too Mukesh bought me a pair of pyjamas as well," laughs Salve, recalling how he was referred to as to Mumbai The next thing you knew according to Orissa at which he had gone for a day's hearing. "I informed Mukesh I had packed nothing. He insisted on getting me the essentials."

It's not the ground rules as a good deal as the frills the current growth eyebrows. The veteran Jethmalani is surprisingly the multiple modest in his fees from the time he performs not credit cost levels according to the strength of the client's purse. But as the crises suffer multiplied, lawyers' fees undergo exploded.

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Harish Salve, 54- Landmark case: Won the gas dispute for Mukesh Ambani, although how he enjoys numerous is making amicus curiae in the Forest Case of T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad vs Union of India and Others.- Legal Style: Is a master strategist. Gives a balanced argument alternatively as opposed to an aggressive, one-sided view.- Fee per appearance: Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh. For a complete day, it is Rs 25 lakh.- The indulgence: Drives a Bentley.
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Ram Jethmalani, 87- Landmark case: Got the Jain Hawala state of affairs against L. K. Advani squashed; is by now defending former Gujarat property minister Amit Shah.- Legal Style: Argues forcefully. Has an acerbic wit.- Fee per appearance: Rs 5 lakh.- The indulgence: Has an indoor badminton court assembled in his MP bungalow so is the envy of Lutyens' Delhi.
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Mukul Rohatgi, 55- Landmark case: Represented Anil Ambani in the gas dispute.- Legal Style: Is a slogger. Argues aggressively and goes straight to the point.- Fee per appearance: Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh and Rs 25 lakh for a complete day.- The indulgence: Drives a brown Bentley, has Souza on his walls, a vacation residential structure in Goa.
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Majid Memon, 55- Landmark case: He represented Yakub Memon but may not set him free.- Legal Style: He suggests in the court through his affirmatory leg on a chair.- Fee per day: Rs 10 lakh. Charges Rs 2 lakh for a bail application.- The indulgence: Likes to travel, causes frequent trips to unconventional locations.
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Satish Maneshinde, 50- Landmark case: He secured bail for Sanjay Dutt in the Bombay blast situation and for Salman Khan who allegedly killed one body additonally driving drunk.- Legal Style: Argues calmly in court and seems straight to the judge's eyes.- Fee per day: Rs 10 lakh.- The indulgence: His Mercedes and a passion for Page 3 parties.
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Aryama Sundaram, 53- Landmark case: Represented the West Bengal Government against Haldia Petrochemicals and UBS Securities against sebi.- Legal Style: Persuasive speaker, reports his circumstances in a taken into account tone.- Fee per appearance: Rs 3.5 lakh
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Arvind Datar, 53- Landmark case: Was one of the lawyers in the Vodafone vs Income Tax case.- Legal Style: Says one class he learnt is to never antagonise a judge. It's not merely your bread and butter but your client's life.- Fee per appearance: Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh.- The indulgence: His above all car was a Toyota Corona in 1990. Now he functions an Audi. Has penned a three-volume commentary on Constitutional law.
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Abhishek Manu Singhvi, 51- Landmark case: Won the best to fly the tricolour for Navin Jindal.- Legal Style: From sensible in court to rhetorical flourish in Parliament to snappy sound bites for the media on tv.- Fee per appearance: Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh. For a broad day, it is Rs 25 lakh.- The indulgence: A limited-edition Visconti pen among a custom-made nib and watches out of each luxury brand.
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The 50 court hearings in the Haldia Petrochemicals vs the West Bengal Government be an expense of the former a whole of Rs 25 crore in lawyer fees and the 20 hearings in the Bombay Mill Case, that dragged on for 3 years, rates the mill propietors roughly Rs 10 crore. Large corporate firms, that employ star counsels on behalf of the client, additionally want to understand the quirks.

For instance, Salve am able to clearly accept the initial brief. He serves to never be the moment counsel in a case. Some lawyers prefer to be paid out partly in money but the highest quality are content provided cheques. Some suppose the patron not to blink additonally deciding on up a dinner tab of Rs 1.75 lakh at a Chennai 5 star. A lawyer is famed to carry his property linen and curtains provided him additonally travelling on work. A enduring may a great deal hold to choose up a hot Vertu phone of the instant or a Jaeger-LeCoutre a look out of the hour to carry on a lawyer in desired humour.

Some are nonetheless dished out to not turn up at all for the a good amount portion - Aryama Sundaram was retained by Anil Ambani in the gas feud but he did not war the case. Or take Raytheon when it was vying the Jindals. Raytheon had dished out seven top lawyers a retainer fee of Rs 2.5 lakh every just recently to ensure such a the Jindals will not be able to offer a right situation on a taxation issue.

They miscalculated when a star lawyer fought the state of affairs at the endure minute. "I do not take terrible retainers," shrugs Rohatgi, former greater amount of solicitor general. "A lawyer's job is to turn up for any customer the current comes to him. It's not for the lawyers to judge if a patron is fine or bad but the court." Indeed. He is, in the wake of all, the lawyer who declared so famously in court the current B. Ramalinga Raju did not fudge any consideration in the Satyam Case. All he did was "window dressing".

Some elevated profile models undergo kept on for years, on the condition that a strong source of income, on the Scindia sequence vie that dates to 1989, to the JetLite Sahara contend now in taxation arbitration to the BCCI that is at this moment in litigation amidst Lalit Modi, Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab.

Think of the significant law organizations as the big Hollywood lofts and the senior counsel as the superstar. There are a few familiar faces to be discovered in several of the big ticket cases, whether it is the Ambani gas case, Vodafone taxation or Bombay Mills case.

Explains Salve, "There is a motive why we own a great deal more as opposed to one senior advocate on a case. When you are arguing, he's looking at the court. He picks up a rate or a vibe the current you may hold missed." Says Raian Karanjawala whose enduring has anticipated the briefs for tendencies ranging from what i read in the Tata's up to date properly to personal space situation to Karisma Kapoor's divorce, "The uni jewels in the crown today are Salve, Rohatgi, Rohinton Nariman and Singhvi.

They experience replaced the old guard of Fali Nariman, Soli Sorabjee, Ashok Desai and K.K. Venugopal." He adds, "The one body who defies the generational gap is Jethmalani who was India's greatest criminal lawyer in the 1960s and is so today."


The necessity for superstar lawyers has far outstripped the supply. So a one-man demonstrate by, say, Rohatgi can run up billings of Rs 40 crore, the same as a mid-sized corporate law establishment as if Titus and Co this employs 28 juniors. The big law corporations these as AZB or Amarchand & Mangaldas or Luthra & Luthra experience to do all the groundwork for the counsel, from what i read in humouring the clerk to ensure the A-lister turns up on the hearing day to sourcing appropriate overseas judgments in emerging populations these as environmental and patent laws. "We are partners in this. There are so few lawyers and so most matters," points out Diljeet Titus.

As the perception between those has broken down, authorities hold surveyed corporates and corporates are questioning every other, and an array of new subjects has turn up up. And as the federal has weakened, the courts undergo become stronger. The lawyer, alleges Sundaram, through the flourish the current has witnessed him decide on up a good number of Dhurandhares and Senakas at steep art auctions, has emerged as the contemporary day purohit.

Each purohit is run priest of a select style. Says Karanjawala, "Harish is the closest model in today's bar to Fali Nariman; Rohinton has the most ideal law library in his brain; Mukul is merely India's busiest lawyer additonally Manu Singhvi is the largest multi-tasker." Salve has struggle a nice balancing act at which he has represented Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati, Parkash Singh Badal and Amarinder Singh, Lalit Modi and Subhash Chandra and much the Ambani brothers, of channel in unique cases. Singhvi is Sonia Gandhi's go-to-guy on many legal issues, whether it is citizenship or filing a situation against a publication.

Jethmalani is the man to hire for everyone in trouble. In judicial circles he is famed as the above all resort for the survive resort. Even Jethmalani's junior Satish Maneshinde, who came to Mumbai in 1993 as a penniless law graduate according to Karnataka, try to fame (and wealth) in the wake of he got bail for Sanjay Dutt in 1996. Now he owns a plush office in Worli and has become a one-stop shop for celebrities in trouble, out of obtaining bail for Rakhi Sawant when a youth committed suicide following she dubbed him namard (impotent) to representing Salman Khan in a drunken driving case.

With wealth arrive perks. In 1992, Karanjawala and Desai got chatting in the Supreme Court car park when former law minister Ashoke Sen zipped by in his Fiat. "What Ashoke, little car?" surveyed Desai to that Sen replied, "In Bangla we suffer a saying: legendary Brahmins wish not wear the sacred thread." Now the car park is filled investing in Bentleys, Mercedes and at the especially least, an upmarket Toyota. The symbols of affluence enter a vacation housing in Goa, Souzas on the office walls, shopping expeditions to Bond Street (where properties can guess to bump to a larger amount of lawyers). As Salve says, "Only Brioni and Canali acquire boring suits for lawyers, the blacks and dark greys." Also the pens, the watches, and in Arun Jaitley and Rohatgi's case, the jamewars. Then there is the public profile, enhanced by operating operated status on tv channels each more night.

Most of the prized lawyers the as Salve, Jethmalani, Sundaram and Rohatgi do a couple of pro bono try as well, if the lead to is right. But in all this, the pil bar has appear crashing down, upheld easily by men these types of as Rajeev Dhavan and Prashant Bhushan. "I subsidise my pil spinrt by picking on commercial cases, that I needed when I had to send my daughters to poll in the US," reports Dhavan. In the majority of cases, it is the take-off rate for a job in the federal desire Indira Jaising's directed amidst Mumbai's homeless pavement dwellers that has got her the greater number of solicitor general's job. As Dhavan notes, the dense gravity of private re&wshyp;selling lawyering has came up with brown holes in activist lawyering.

Says an fuming Sorabjee, "To credit Rs 30 to 40 lakh per day is not anything very brief of extortion. It is no excuse to say such a the patron can purchase it. Lawyers are professionals, not tradesmen in a sale place. I get mad if a patron claims fees are no question. You be sure you can buy me? You can credit heavy fees but not extortionist fees." The octogenarian constitutional specialized invoices Rs 2 lakh per arrival as opposed to the going out worth of Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh trusted by younger lawyers. Sometimes, if the court breaks for lunch at 1 p.m. and the question has arrive up for hearing at 12.45, the lawyer a great deal charges the patron for two separate appearances.

In Mumbai, for instance, veteran criminal lawyer Majid Memon grievances Rs 2 lakh dede for securing bail in a sessions court. There are individuals who think of him imminent to the tada court in 1996 on an old scooter. He now functions a Mercedes. In Chennai, Arvind Datar grievances anything and everything between Rs 50,000 and Rs 5 lakh per appearance.

As for the chartered flights, properties all regard the current presently is a demand fairly as opposed to a privilege. "The advocates arrive to us in on who pass on (of chartered flights). It's not flaunting of fuel but the notion is to end up with the same day based on information from a horribly tethered destination, displays Singhvi, putting on his a multitude of earnest expression. Rohatgi complains of making claustrophobic on lowly planes. "During highest point hours, chartered flights do not get preference through commercial," he adds amid the jaded fatigue of a seasonal traveller.

There is a explanation for this moment excessive fee structure. In present years, the stakes in corporate litigation own hit the roof, as in the Rs 12,000-crore Vodafone vs the Income Tax department case. Moreover, the legal fraternity says who when customers do not mind hiring purchase lenders fees price millions of dollars, when that happens why are one and only lawyers springing up for censure? The fate of different pertinent corporate battles hangs on the slender thread of that measure is listed before that court and that lawyer can head there. "Why is planning to we take in a lower amount of as opposed to the CEO of a big corporation?" asks Sundaram. Except the present the CEO often goes on to become a minister in the government-law as a profession permits immense mobility-and sell amid the same organisations he in the wake of represented.

Most corporate bosses furthermore experience such a legal favourites. For instance, Nusli Wadia's favourite lawyer is Fali Nariman who hates "skullduggery"; ITC's was Desai but he has ever since carried on replaced by Salve; the late Madhav Rao Scindia's family favours Singhvi. Of course, the Ambani brothers too undergo the particular legal soldiers: additonally Anil's first and foremost option is mostly Rohatgi, his doggy opts for Salve. As performs Ratan Tata. The Birlas go investing in Sen. Many suffer came up with mini-dynasties, whether it is Singhvi, Salve or Rohinton Nariman.

"Sometimes, it is the thrill of the forensic complexity who counts, not successful or losing," alleges Singhvi. He recalls how over the Ambani gas case, a friend referred to as and surveyed him, "The stocks are varying wildly. you are the oracle: that way could it go?" Singhvi laughed and alleged he had no idea. Salve agrees. "Mukesh referred to as me the afternoon and declared we own finished our best. The rest is up to God," he recalls.
However, Rohatgi who appeared for Anil says, "I had a premonition we should lose. But Anil respect otherwise." Salve adds, "After the judgment, Mukesh was too choked to speak. Nita stated properties had one more and more request. I must solve the media. She said, Harish bhai bahut negativity ho gaya. There provided be no loose comments." Clearly a lawyer's brief is not easily limited to courtrooms.

Ironically, it was within the Battle of the Brothers survive year the current Salve informed the Supreme Court how Mukesh Ambani had imparted upon him around the millions of bucks demanded by laptop consultants just now to build having companies, resulting firms and further this complexities. Quick to retort, Rohatgi had quipped, "Is such a how Salve justifies his extreme fees?" Grinning, a sheepish Salve said, "I plead guilty on my behalf and on behalf of my colleagues." But it was Justice R.V. Raveendran who had the survive word, "The one and only change between Salve and the consultants is the laptop." And probably the Bentley, the BMW and the Mercedes.
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