Aspiring to be top legal firm from Asia by 2025: Cyril Shroff

Interview with Managing partner, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas

Three months after the separation of law firm Amarchand & Mangaldas, corporate lawyer Cyril Shroff unveiled a fresh brand identity for his firm, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, with a first-of-its-kind heavy-duty strategic advisory board led by Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy, HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh, Kotak Mahindra Bank Executive Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Uday Kotak, BCG Chairman Janmejaya Sinha and academician Umakanth Varottil. In an interview with Dev Chatterjee, he talks on the need for the new brand identity and creation of an advisory board. Edited excerpts:

The firm is celebrating its first founder’s day on the 84th birth anniversary of the late Suresh Amarchand Shroff... Where do you see the firm a few years from now?

We are aspiring to be the top legal services firm from Asia by 2025. It is an ambitious target. A lot of activity will happen in Asia, like in India, China, Japan, and Singapore… It’s a high goal and it’s a goal which is more concrete to aspire for and perhaps it would have been a bit of overreach if we had set this goal globally but this is doable. As we are from Asia, we understand the region very well. That’s why we have taken it as a benchmark and a lot of deeper thinking has gone into giving an international feel to our new logo and brand identity.

What is the idea behind the new brand identity — especially the hidden elephant. And, how do you think it will differentiate the firm from its peers?

Ganesha gives the logo an auspicious tone but we use the quality of the solidity of an elephant as our main quality without compromising on our mission with humility. The elephant symbolises strength, intelligence and longevity.

The brand identity has been designed by Interbrand and the logo is a culmination of four months of effort. It involved deep engagement with Interbrand, which has devised brand identities for some of the world’s biggest brands such as Mercedes, BMW etc. The brief was to build upon the legacy ?we have with differentiation and give it an international feel to it, so that we are future ready. The thought process on the logo gives us a sweet spot where the needs of our clients of today and tomorrow will intersect.

The ‘ring of gold’ is a symbol of unity and infinity. Gold as a colour embodies tradition, brilliance and success. The violet colour signifies wisdom, integrity dignity and ambition and this forms the core of our logo and identity. The orange in C stands for warmth and friendship. The hidden elephant in the logo also signifies that we should be able to see what the others do not.

What was the idea behind getting a high-profile strategic advisory board for the firm as this concept is not very popular in India and in the rest of the world?

That’s right. The strategic advisory board is a relatively a new concept and is quite popular in Australia and Canada. The people on our advisory board will make sure that we remain devoted to our humbleness. The board will guide the firm on vision, overall direction and strategy, and also advise it to identify new opportunities. The board members will meet periodically and offer views on various aspects. The background and perspectives of each member of the board will guide the firm in making the best use of its resources and achieve its ambitious vision.

Your firm is focusing a lot on e-commerce, which is picking up very fast in India and so is the litigation… What kind of advice are you giving to your clients, especially when a lot of states are having different opinion on taxation?

We have both old and new-age clients from e-commerce. We would always try to be relevant for our clients. Tax problems can come for any company — be it a 50-year-old company or a 100-year-old company. But we are striving to be contemporary for all our clients.