Webcast interview with Cyril Shroff, Managing Partner, AMSS, Mumbai - film

Cyril Shroff

Cyril Shroff, Managing Partner, AMSS, Mumbai

In April 2013, the IBA hosted a live webcast and Q&A with Cyril Shroff, Managing Partner at one of India’s leading law firms, Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co (AMSS) in Mumbai.

After qualifying in 1982, Cyril Shroff joined AMSS as an intern, working his way up through the firm to his current position of Managing Partner. Over his 30-year career he has seen the development of much of India’s corporate law and the growth of India into an Asian superpower.

Shroff shared insights on such issues as the Indian economy, and its place as part of the BRICS nations; the legal profession in India and its liberalisation; challenges, including governance issues and bureaucracy; and new developments in regulation, tax and competition law. The interview was conducted by award-winning former CNN journalist, Todd Benjamin. Watch it below.

Timings and topics

00:25 Becoming managing partner of Amarchand & Mangaldas at 35 years old
02:00 'What do you look for when hiring an associate?'
03:30 Mergers and acquisitions
04:45 Law as psychotherapy
07:00 What can Western firms learn from Eastern firms?
11:00 Regulation frameworks; liberalisation; foreign law firms in India; modernisation
18:13 Differentiation between barristers and solicitors in India; regulation for unlicensed in-house counsel
20:35 Corruption and governance
26:00 Trusteeship, succession and wealth planning
26:42 Competition laws in India – effect on practice; reform; international issues
31:50 Vodafone/retrospective tax and offshore/multinational companies
37:30 Bureaucracy and inefficiency; public v private sector
39:39 Companies Bill
40:45 International mergers
41:35 Indian economy
43:22 India and the BRICS nations
45:00 Caps on investment; overregulation
46:00 Governance and bureaucracy
47:06 The future for Amarchand & Mangaldas
48:52 Family nature of the business