It is widely known that nearly every Supreme Court case is in want of a recommend-on-record (AOR), and several attorneys and regulation companies have made this a core part of their Supreme Court practice. After analyzing extra than 120,000 of the Supreme Court’s daily orders from 2018, we have now compiled a list of the busiest suggest-on-file (AOR) corporations in the apex courtroom, in step with the range of orders mentioning their names.
Agarwal Law Associates is a powerhouse of the AOR companies, completely through the AOR exercise of its founder and AOR EC Agrawala, who become chargeable for 645 topics in 2018. Partner (and EC Agrawala’s son) Mahesh Agarwal advised us last 12 months that a good-sized variety of instructions got here immediately from lawyers, with around 50% of the firm’s AOR paintings coming from states which include Maharashtra and Gujarat, with a selected recognition on paintings in electricity, telecoms, ports, insolvency, and financial disaster.
Next up is SM Jadhav & Co, which in its personal name and that of AOR Shivaji M Jadhav, has more than 292 precise entries (including, however, as Mr. Jadhav as a recommendation, in place of an AOR, although this record isn’t always consistent in the SC orders).
Coming in 1/3 is litigation powerhouse Karanjawala & Co (which has handled at the least 255 AOR filings in 2018 via its in-house AOR exercise), also together with AOR filings with the aid of associate Manik Karanjawala (who generally files thru the company, but now and again additionally in her own call), in addition to appearances utilizing some of Karanjawala’s legal professionals.
Managing associate Raian Karanjawala stated: “Frankly we started our exercise within the Supreme Court – I was born in that court docket, so became my spouse – so we needed to be the whole lot in residence, we couldn’t farm out our exercise to others. We started within the Supreme Court and stayed there for many years.”
“In 1990, I was given Indian Airlines as a customer, and because Indian Airlines doesn’t have so much litigation law but labor disputes and consumer discussion board [cases], that is what made me make bigger. That is what honestly grew our exercise,” Karanjawala explained, approximately how the company’s practice accelerated to purchaser forum, high courts, and trial courts. In any case, at the Supreme Court, “cash is not within the filing, we do the entire matter,” he brought, even though we remember the fact that a few different complete-carrier companies additionally instruct Karanjawala as its AOR.
Other AOR corporations in the top ranks with the aid of volume are PLR Chambers & Co (249 filings), Lawyers Knit & Co (222 filings), and Parekh & Co (218 filings), along with loads of other corporations. Update 27 April 2019: Fourth-ranked PLR Chambers & Co is the AOR firm that is part of PLR Chambers, which changed into started by former Amarchand coverage associate Suhaan Mukerji in 2013. “I am focusing on litigation as the subsequent section of boom after setting up the firm due to the fact litigation compliments a regulatory and coverage exercise thoroughly,” he explained, noting that the company had cases in the Supreme Court for clients, which include Tik Tok.
“Also, given our regulatory exercise has an all-India footprint, we are capable of additionally cover litigation right down to the district degree throughout India. The development of the litigation exercise I have pushed all India and Astha Sharma, Harsh Gursahani, Amit Verma, and on the criminal and white-collar crime side by using Ravinder Singh and Chitralekha Das, all of whom are supported by their groups.”
AORs can price whatever from Rs five,000, with fees, frequently growing for more complex or high-price subjects up to Rs forty 000 per AOR filing for a few more high priced AORs companies (together with Karanjawala, in step with several regulation company litigators we spoke to). At the cheaper give up, it’s also a properly-rehearsed criticism at the Supreme Court that some AORs definitely “lend out their name” for filings, without being actively involved in a matter (that’s technically now not supposed to happen consistently with the AOR policies).
