Indian law firms prefer to refer work to US firms rather than UK equivalents. Perception is that US firms provide more cost effective services; in addition with a number of UK firms tied in with local firms, Indian law firms are reluctant to refer to work to domestic rivals.

UK visibility, US recall

While UK firms are still the most visible, of the 68 foreign firms named by local clients and firm as "active" in India, 53% were from the US compared to 35% from the UK.

"There are now far more US firms involved in India. There's a fat head of magic circle firms but then a long tail of large US firms, because it's a bigger investment destination."

Reena SenGupta, RSG managing director.

Key findings

RSG's research takes in to account all key stakeholders, including foreign and local lawyers and clients and the results show exactly why UK and US counterparts are eager to see the market open further.

• India's legal market will be worth approximately US$ 800 million in 2010. This is expected to grow to north of US$ 1 billion within 3 years.

• 82% of a sample group of 60 Indian corporates predict their legal spend will rise over the next five years.

• The top 100 companies in the Economic Times 500 will spend US$ 479 million on legal fees in 2010. The top 10 of this list account for 40% of total spend.

• Family domination of the boardroom is finally decreasing - less than half of India's top 25 corporates have family dominated boards - this dynamic is expected to formalize legal services purchasing decisions.

• 56% of the General Counsel surveyed could not claim to be up to date about Western law firms. Therefore, there are still opportunities for firms yet to develop their Indian presence.

Further information about RSG India can be found here