1985 was not a golden era for fresh law graduates, since the law firms were extremely hierarchical where the power was utterly concentrated on the top. That is when Nishith Desai, a reputed international tax lawyer, rebelled against this system and established Nishith Desai Associates (NDA) in 1990 after meticulously researching hundreds of professional service firm models worldwide. With the desire to create a better world, Nishith built an empowered and transparent organization, which endowed people with the freedom to think, to do and earn. Vesting keen importance on domain expertise, he hired diverse people like software engineers, chartered accountants and medical surgeons with strong qualifications, and made them study law.

While being sustainable and new-age, this trust-based democratic firm delivered premium complex transactions and litigations based on strong research foundation and continual education. By building tremendous value, it commands the kind of quality work and handles greatly complicated matters, which others typically can't find easy solutions to. Having laid a strong foundation, unsurprisingly, NDA cemented its name as a thought leader in the early 90s with its path breaking work in the Mauritius treaty. Ever since, the company has been undergoing an aggressive journey with 25 percent growth annually; especially the past ten years have been a rollercoaster ride for NDA.

In an epoch that denized in the philosophy - 'more people, more bill', NDA coined the term 'nano' firm with the aim of being the best rather than being the largest. This 125 people strong firm thinks big and scales through other value added attributes such as technology, innovation, research and thought leadership to bring forth a far better strategic advice.

The Global Exposure

NDA has forged a stellar reputation for rescuing clients from real crisis and reducing their reputational risk, tremendous credit to its in-depth cross-functional expertise and research skills that gives the company a head start into futuristic areas of law. The firm stands out in sharp contrast with its expertise in proffering an integrated strategic advice across legal, tax and regulatory matters with international perspective. Since more than 70 percent of its clientele are from abroad, NDA advices heavily on cross-border law by leveraging its 'anticipate-prepare-deliver' model to dive deep into diverse legal aspects & jurisdictions. This India-centric global law firm has established its offices across Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, Singapore, Silicon Valley, Munich and New York not just for business expansion but also to ensure seamless delivery by understanding client's problems. Furthermore, NDA allows its people to travel globally to ascertain that they truly understand the legal policies across different jurisdictions, which in turn enables the firm to maintain the highest credibility and impact.