The advice you need before you decide to sue
A commercial practice that will tell you when litigating is the wrong answer. Fee ranges with the assumptions attached, and the partner who takes the call is the one who runs the matter.
How a matter runs
Four stages, and the first one often ends the engagement.
Assessment
A written view on merits, likely cost and likely duration before you commit to anything. ₹45,000, credited in full against the matter if you proceed. About a third of assessments end with us advising against proceeding.
Pre-action
Notice, negotiation and, where it fits, mediation. Most commercial disputes that settle, settle here — and the ones that do settle for more than they would after two years of pleadings.
Proceedings
Pleadings, interlocutory applications and trial. Billed monthly against a written estimate, with a revised estimate any time the assumptions behind it change rather than at the end.
Enforcement
A decree is not money. Enforcement is its own matter with its own estimate, and we will tell you before trial whether the defendant looks worth enforcing against — which is the question most clients are never asked.
Practice areas
Six. We refer out of anything not on this list rather than learning it on your matter.
Commercial disputes
Contract, shareholder and supply disputes before the Delhi High Court and the commercial courts. The largest part of the practice.
Arbitration
Domestic and institutional, seat and enforcement work included.
Insolvency
Creditor and debtor side before the NCLT, including operational creditor petitions.
Employment
Senior exits, restrictive covenants and workplace investigations.
Regulatory
Responses to sectoral regulators and show-cause proceedings.
Advisory
Contract review and risk opinions, priced as a fixed fee rather than hourly.
Who we act for
Client names are confidential. What we can publish is the shape of the work — and no success rate, because a firm that settles well would look worse on that number than one that tries everything.
The figures we will publish
And the one we will not, which is below.
From clients
The assessment told us not to sue and explained what enforcement would look like even if we won. We settled at seventy per cent within four months. Two other firms had quoted us for a trial.
The estimate was revised twice and both times before the cost was incurred, with a note explaining what had changed. I have never had that from a law firm.
They brought in a mediator rather than billing us for another year of pleadings. It cannot have been the profitable choice for them.
Start with the assessment
₹45,000 for a written view on merits, cost and duration — credited in full if you proceed, and about a third of them end with us advising you not to.
Fees, timelines and the questions people avoid
Ask every firm you speak to the second and fourth of these.
What will this cost?
A commercial dispute to the end of trial in the Delhi High Court is typically ₹18–55 lakh, and the range is that wide because the cost is driven by what the other side does rather than by us. You get a written estimate with its assumptions listed, and a revised one whenever an assumption breaks — before the cost is incurred, not after.
What is your success rate?
We do not publish one and you should be sceptical of any firm that does. A practice that settles well looks worse on that number than one that pushes everything to judgment, and the denominator is entirely in the firm’s gift. Ask instead how many matters they advised against bringing.
How long will it take?
A commercial suit in Delhi is realistically three to six years to judgment, plus appeal. Anyone telling you eighteen months is describing a best case that almost never happens. That timeline is the strongest argument for settling, and it is why the pre-action stage gets the attention it does.
Will the partner I meet actually run my matter?
Yes, and it is written into the engagement letter with a named individual. It caps how many matters we can take, which is why we sometimes say we are full rather than pitching for work we would then hand down.