In November and December 2022, India Business Law Journal invited thousands of in-house counsel in India and around the world – as well as India-focused partners at international law firms – to nominate outstanding Indian lawyers in a number of categories, including those that are seen as the future leaders of the country’s legal profession.

Well over 3,000 nominations and testimonials were received from professionals at a wide range of Indian and international companies, international law firms and other organisations, including: 3M, Accenture, Adani Enterprises, Aditya Birla Finance, Aditya Birla Group, Afridi & Angell, AIA, Air India, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, Akzo Nobel, Allen & Gledhill, Allen & Overy, Alpha Capital, Alstom, Alta Laboratories, Amazon, American Express, American Tower Corporation, Anand Rathi Financial Services, Ananta Capital, Anish Pharmaequip, Antares Marine, Applied Research International, Apraava Energy, Apya Capital Services, Asian Development Bank, Assem Infrastructure Finance, Atra Pharmaceuticals, Atsumi & Sakai, Automi Tech, Avendus Capital, Axis Bank, Bain Capital, Bajaj Electricals, Baker McKenzie, Bank of Baroda Capital, Barclays, Barings, Basil Technology Partners, BBC Studios, Bharti Airtel, Bharti Enterprises, Bird & Bird, Bloomberg, Blue Dart Express, BNP Paribas, Britannia, British American Tobacco, Brookfield Asset Management, Bullero Capital, Canara Bank, Cardiac Wellness Institute, Carlyle Group, Carrefour, Caterpillar, Ceres Foods, Cipla, Cisco, Clifford Chance, CLSA, Clyde & Co, CMS, Coal India, Colgate-Palmolive, Control Risks, Cravath Swaine & Moore, Cummins, Dabur, Dalmia Bharat, DBS Bank, Deloitte, Dentons, Deutsche Bank, DLA Piper, Dorsey & Whitney, Dr Agarwal’s Health Care, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Droom Technology, Edelmann Group, Enel Green Power, Eversheds Sutherland, Experion Developers, Fab India, FedEx, Ferrero, Flipkart, Food Service India, Ford, Fortis Healthcare, Fortum India, Foseco, Freshfields, Frost Brown Todd, Fullerton, GAIL, GE, Gencare Pharmaceutical, Glenmark, Godrej Industries, Goldman Sachs, Google, Gunderson Dettmer, HDFC, Healthcare at Home, Herbalife International India, Herbert Smith Freehills, Hero MotoCorp, Hindalco Industries, Hindustan Construction Company, Hindustan Unilever, Hitachi, Hogan Lovells, Hyundai Motor Company, ICICI, IDBI Capital Markets & Securities, IKEA, Indiabulls, Indian Art Corporation, Indian Hotels Company, Infosys, Inox Wind Infrastructure Services, Intel, Intelsat, Investec, JCB, Jindal Steel & Power, JM Financial, Johnson & Johnson, JSW Energy, JSW Steel, King & Spalding, Kirkland & Ellis, Kotak Mahindra Bank, KPMG, Larsen & Toubro, Latham & Watkins, Levis Strauss, Mahindra & Mahindra, Mandala Capital, Mapwood, Marks & Spencer Reliance, Marsh India Insurance Brokers, Max Financial Services, Mayer Brown, Metro Brands, Milbank, Mishcon de Reya, Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Morgan Lewis, Morgan Stanley, Mori Hamada & Matsumoto, Morrison Foerster, NDTV, NEC, NIppon Life India Asset Management, Nishimura & Asahi, Nokia, North Oil Company, Norton rose Fulbright, O’Melveny & Myers, Omniactive Health Technologies, Orient Cement, OYO Hotels and Homes, Panasonic, PepsiCo, Petronas, Pfizer, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Rabo Bank, Raheja Developers, Rajah & Tann, Ravindra Energy, Reckitt Benckiser, Reed Smith, Reliance Industries, Saama Capital, Sahara, Saint Gobain, Samsung, Sanofi, Sapura Energy, Sequoia Capital, Shearn Delamore & Co, Shook Lin & Bok, Siana Capital, Sidley Austin, Siemens, Simmons & Simmons, Slaughter and May, Smiths Medical, Snapdeal, Softbank, Sony Pictures, Squire Patton Boggs, Standard Chartered Bank, Statkraft, Steel Authority of India, Sumitomo Chemicals, SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan, Tata Capital, Tata Motors, Tata Power, Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra, Temasek, Tesco, Tilleke & Gibbins, Toshiba Water Solutions, TVF, Universal Music, Viacom18 Media, Visa, Vodafone Idea, Volkswagen, Welspun, WestBridge Capital, Wipro, Xiaomi, Yes Bank, Zee Infra, Zhong Lun Law Firm, Zydus Lifesciences, and thousands more Indian and international companies, financial institutions and international law firms.

Lawyers working at Indian law firms were not permitted to make nominations.

The final list of Future Legal Leaders reflects the nominations received and the references provided by those who made nominations, combined with India Business Law Journal editorial team’s more than 50 years’ collective experience in documenting and analysing India’s legal market.

All Indian private practice lawyers who are currently associated with Indian law firms were automatically eligible for inclusion in the nominations process (except for those lawyers who have been named Future Legal Leaders in previous years) and, as always, there were no fees or any other requirements for entry. Senior counsel and independent lawyers’ chambers were not included.