Introduction
Besides profits, what’s the first thing a business craves? That’s right - funds. A decent cash inflow is the lifeblood of any business. What is the first place you think of when you need funds? Right again - a bank. Businesses’ need for funds is never going to see a backtrack, and thus banking is an area that will always be there, as a corollary.
This is also why a well-functioning banking and financial services (BFSI) sector becomes crucial for any country, irrespective of the economic cycle - depression, recession, recovery or boom. Unless there is a complete collapse of the economic system itself, work in the sector will continue to exist.
However, given its impact on the economy, this sector is very heavily regulated. Owing to a high amount of regulation, the requirement for lawyers, Chartered Accountants, Company Secretaries, consultants and in-house business managers who can provide specialized services in this area is very high.
For example, lawyers are needed for different kinds of contract-related work in meeting compliance requirements and enforcement work in various tribunals and courts. Chartered Accountants (CAs) and Company Secretaries (CS) can provide different kinds of paperwork, valuation, certification and audit-related requirements.
In-house lawyers who are well-versed with the nuances of this sector can assist their companies with the identification of appropriate sources of finance, internal preparatory work, negotiation of lending documents and completion of all procedural requirements till money hits the account.
The broad types of work performed by such professionals relate to:
- Structuring of different types of financial products and services to ensure these meet the regulatory requirements
- Selection of appropriate sources of finance for different commercial purposes
- Advisory services related to obtaining finance from cross-border sources
- Periodic regulatory and compliance-related tasks
- Drafting and negotiation of information memoranda, lending and security documents
- Due diligence and preparatory documentation work for loan preparedness
- Enforcement and disputes-related work for lenders or for borrowers and guarantors, before various forums such as Debts Recovery Tribunal, Debts Recovery Appellate Tribunal, National Company Law Tribunal
- Contract-related work for companies availing loans
Since the mid-1990s, major full-service corporate law firms have focussed on developing banking and finance as a key practice area. The work in these firms involves serving a variety of conglomerates with their financing needs from Indian and global banks and syndicates, assisting infrastructure companies with raising finance for different kinds of projects and assisting international financial institutions in providing finance to Indian banks.
Apart from corporate law firms, banks and other companies in these sectors employ a high number of professionals in their in-house teams to deal with the huge volume of work. For example, ICICI bank’s in-house legal team, for which Lawsikho had prepared a training program, comprises 200 lawyers, which is larger than many full-service law firms. In-depth knowledge of banking and finance laws is a huge advantage in competing for these positions.
Also, an in-house counsel’s role in these businesses has become increasingly important. In-house counsels were primarily considered to be intermediaries between litigators (for disputes work) and law firms (for advisory work and contracts).
However, this notion is changing very fast. The work of an in-house counsel has become very specialized and attuned to the unique business model of the company where he or she works. In-house counsels often know more about the business than the law firm team.
Companies in the BFSI space prefer to have strong in-house teams so that they can perform specialized work at a lower cost. They prefer to restrict the engagement of law firms only to matters where in-house expertise is not available.
For professionals who want to work in-house, this is a great opportunity to perform meaningful work and have a stable and well-paying job. This offers in-house counsels, CAs and CS to harness opportunities to develop a high level of sectoral expertise and insights, which are unique and not found in firms.
I’ll give you an example. Two years back, Policybazaar had just secured funding of INR 500 crores. Yashish Dahiya, its founder, had stated that their legal, compliance and secretarial team was already 30 members strong!
In BFSI companies, there are often confidentiality considerations as well, which prevent them from engaging many external consultants. In fact, in order to be a consultant to such entities, you will have to pass through a thorough background check. But once you do enter their system, they are reluctant to change consultants too often. And hence, if you do possess the requisite expertise, you have a chance to be empanelled with such banks, thus, resulting in a source of regular income as well as bringing invisibility.
In today’s times, the fintech sector has a huge demand for in-house counsels because financial services are gradually going digital. This requires in-house teams to have a sophisticated understanding of banking and finance and technology-related legislation. The work involved requires a conceptualization of innovative business models with the promoters to ensure that it is in alignment with the regulatory framework, end-to-end alignment of business operations with regulatory requirements, close coordination with business and operations teams, data protection-related work, creation of various kinds of standardized contracts with customers and different vendors, KYC-related work and performance of various compliance requirements.
Litigators also have an exciting range of opportunities. Disputes and litigation work in this area are specialized and complex, and a traditional civil or criminal litigator will require some specialized skill sets to develop and effectively serve clients in this sector, owing to the unique commercial jargon used in banking and finance contracts, rapid developments in RBI’s regulatory framework, developments in the fintech sector, frequent changes to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and the NCLTs.
How will the global recession and the COVID-19 lockdown impact banking and finance work?
The COVID-19 phase and the lockdown globally has disrupted the global supply chain. It has adversely impacted hotels, travel, logistics and the transport industry and manufacturing the most. As we are writing this page, banks have been asked to declare a three-month moratorium on the repayment of the term loans by the borrowers, and there is news of there being apparent gaps in the interpretation of the RBI circular in this regard.
However, it isn’t like the recessionary trends will continue forever. Somewhere, the economic activity will have to resume, and there are some fallouts of COVID-19 which India can look forward to. Globally, companies will look at alternate manufacturing hubs as they cannot afford to solely depend on China. The next best alternatives are India and a few other South Asian/ Southeast Asian economies. Due to the availability of cheap labour and a high domestic demand and consumption capacity, India is well-poised to be a suitable manufacturing alternative. Infrastructure-development work is bound to resume- in fact, it is likely to accelerate, to propel India’s growth into a global supply chain hub.
This will lead to increased investment by global corporations in India as they set up manufacturing subsidiaries and develop greenfield or brownfield investments, which may, in turn, increase the demand for funds and bring an upswing to the banking sector. Even where the businesses are struggling to get back to their feet, there will be ample restructuring transactions being planned and where these fail, recovery actions being put into action.
Lawyers who want to effectively help clients in this scenario will need to have a sound understanding of contracts and disputes. In this environment, there will be a requirement for lawyers to possess an integrated understanding of contracts, pre-litigation drafting and enforcement and disputes-related work.
Until now, lawyers either saw themselves as performing contract-related work, loosely thought of as work in the ‘corporate sector’, or disputes-related work, i.e. litigation. This dichotomy will become a barrier, and lawyers who possess such integrated skills will be able to offer greater value to clients as they can perform more complex tasks. They will be highly sought after.
The fintech sector is another area that is going to witness a rapid scaling up. There is a lot of innovation in this space, which has accelerated since the demonetization and the COVID-19 period.
In the coming few years, this space is likely to see new market leaders emerge. Top venture capitalists are increasing their focus on this sector.
Sachin Bansal invested a significant portion of the USD 1 billion exit amount received from Walmart in his new investment firm Navi Ventures, which is investing in fintech startups.
RBI’s regulations in this sector are evolving fast to accommodate innovation and control risk in this sector. New business models are also emerging, which take into account the unique needs of the Indian population.
This sector, therefore, requires constant legal assistance. Serving these startups offers terrific opportunities for lawyers, consultants and professionals as financial inclusion, digital payments and innovative financial services.
Can I get remote freelance work after doing this course?
At LawSikho, we have two types of students: those who already possess good legal skills and those who are in the process of learning. We believe in enabling our learners to start earning from their knowledge without delay.
For students with professional-level legal skills, we offer opportunities in contract drafting, data & privacy, international business law, US immigration law, litigation support, and international IP law work.
However, we understand that acquiring professional-level skills takes time. For those who are still developing their legal skills, we provide alternative work opportunities such as writing articles, conducting research, legal transcription, data entry, law firm administration, social media management, and more. Some students even engage in tasks like voice-over work, data compilation, translation, and virtual assistance.
We have established a dedicated team that actively pitches to organizations in the US to help LawSikho students find remote work.
We have set up a US entity to bridge the trust gap between US legal professionals and an organization operating from India.
We focus on getting learners their first three clients, guiding them in crafting impressive proposals. By the time they secure these initial clients, learners become well-adjusted to the process and can independently attract more clients.
They build their CVs and profiles with real work experience and testimonials, opening doors to numerous opportunities.
Getting started is often the hardest part, but at LawSikho, we make the process frictionless. We have witnessed law students earning well over $1000 per month.
Some students have earned $500 in their first month as a side gig. We have students who, after a year, now earn $10,000 per month. While some may start with $300, they make progress by learning new skills, improving their profiles, and pitching for higher-paying work.
Between April 2021 and June 2023, we created over 21000+ opportunities for our learners, resulting in thousands of students securing freelance work. The total value of work secured amounts to over $3,30,000 (Aprox INR 2.7 Crore). Additionally, hundreds of individuals found employment, and secured internships.
Please note that these numbers represent the initial gigs facilitated directly by us or those on which we actively collaborated with the learners. Students have also secured additional work beyond our tracking.
Key Highlights
Banking 
Legal 
Finance 
Insurance 
MINING 
FINTECH 
