AFCL Consultants provides management consulting, recruitment, and training services to legal organizations. They have experience working with senior partners and heads of legal departments at law firms and in-house legal teams. Their services include legal recruitment, consulting on strategies, mergers and acquisitions, and commercial training programs on topics relevant to transactional lawyers. They have successfully completed recruitment mandates and consulting projects with many prestigious Indian law firms and corporate legal departments.

1. AFCL Consultants

3. About AFCL
AFCL Consultants provide management consulting, recruitment and training services to
legal organisations.
We have earned the reputation of being a premium service provider to legal organisations in
India. We pride ourselves on market knowledge, honesty, and the respect that we have earned
in the legal community. Our access to people in prestigious law firms and in-house legal
departments is unparalleled and most 'relevant' people in the profession highly regard our
deal-making skills.
AFCL's various offerings are designed to support law firms and in-house legal departments.
Our approach is hands-on and we typically work with senior and managing partners, heads of
legal, practice area heads.
Our consultants have the right combination of legal, finance, and consulting backgrounds that
helps us understand the needs of senior/managing partners and heads
of legal departments and provide them with realistic and practical
solutions aimed at achieving the best for their organisations and their
people.

4. Our Services
Legal Recruitment Services for Law Firms and In-House Departments
We leverage the deep relationships that we have developed with individual lawyers, prestigious law
firms and corporate houses over the past four years to provide customised recruitment and consulting
services. We work exclusively with mid to senior-level candidates, and are able to connect with such
candidates quickly and in a responsive manner.
We pride ourselves on market knowledge, honesty, and the respect that we have earned in the legal
community. Our access to people in prestigious law firms and in-house legal departments is
unparalleled and they have complete faith in us to refer good quality candidates.
We also understand that recruiting a junior lawyer is very different to recruiting a partner/ equity
partner or an in-house head of legal. AFCL's consultants have the right combination of legal and
commercial backgrounds that helps us connect with lawyers across levels of seniority and give them the
level of care and attention they deserve.
Are you a Client?
Whether you’re a private practice law firm or an in-house legal department, our consultants have the
recruitment expertise to help your business.
We pride ourselves at the levels of repeat business we get from our clients. We provide bespoke
services and are proactive in understanding the culture and recruitment goals of your organisation to
build a successful working relationship based on trust and understanding.
We shortlist and identify the most suitable candidates from our extensive database of candidates, all of
whom we have interviewed and screened. We undertake much, if not all, first-level screening so that we
can provide our clients with the best possible match.
For further information on our services, general market information, or to discuss recruitment issues
facing employers, please contact Premal Shah, Principal at AFCL, on +91 9819 680 680 or
premal@afcl.in
Are you a Candidate?
Whether you are a mid-level associate or a partner, our aim is to not only provide you with access to
the right vacancy and the best and broadest legal opportunities in the market,
but to assist you to obtain a role that fits in with your long-term career goal.
Our services for candidates include:
• Career advice
• Markets insight and salary advice
• Interview guidance and feedback
• Compensation package analysis and review
At AFCL, we are committed to quality and confidentiality. All discussions are kept strictly confidential.
For advice and information please contact Premal Shah, Principal at AFCL, on +91 9819 680 680 or
premal@afcl.in. We assure you of a response within 24 hours.

5. Our Services
Recruitment Credentials
We have successfully completed various high-profile mandates both in the law firm and in-house
spaces. The positions we have closed include: Senior/Principal Associate, Associate Partner, Counsel,
Equity Partner, Director Legal,Vice-President Legal Senior Manager Legal.
We have placed candidates in the following practice areas:
• Arbitration
• Banking and Finance
• Capital Markets
• Commercial Arbitration/Litigation
• Competition Law
• Compliance
• Derivatives
• General Corporate and Advisory
• Infrastructure and Projects
• In house - Corporate, Litigation, Contracts
• Mergers & Acquisitions
• Private Equity and Funds
• Project Finance
• Real Estate (including corporate real estate)
• Regulatory Affairs
• Securities Law
• Shipping and Maritime law
• Structured Finance
• Tax - Direct and Indirect

6. Our Services
AFCL Consulting
AFCL provides management consulting services exclusively to law firms. Typically, we work with senior
and managing partners, and are able to bring our range of experience and expertise to help create
creative solutions. In the past, we have worked with law firms on the following areas:
• Strategy development and implementation
• Practices acquisition
• Acquisition of teams
• Law firm mergers
• Building relationships with international law firms
• Expanding domestic offices and opening up offices in international locations
• Business development & marketing plans and implementations

7. Our Services
Mergers and Acquisitions
In a rapidly growing Indian market, law firms need to develop new practice areas. Building expertise
within the firm may not match the speed of the growing requirement and complexities of the
consumers of the legal services. This situation may require firms to consider either mergers or an
acquisition of teams or individuals. In every case, these are highly complex, high-risk decisions. We help
minimise the associated risk by ensuring a rigorous decision-making process that selects the partner or
team most in line with the firm’s strategic aspirations and culture.
AFCL has worked with the larger, mid size as well as smaller firms seeking, evaluating and engaging in
mergers and acquisitions. Our depth of market knowledge is unparalleled and the most 'relevant'
people in the profession highly regard our deal-making skills. We specialize in acquisitions to lateral
group moves to the combination of equals. AFCL has an impeccable track record in successfully closing
quite a few high level reported deals.
Our law firm merger and acquisition services include:
• Merger/Acquisition/Combination Strategy
• Deal Origination
• Candidate Searches
• Assessments
• Deal Negotiations & Structuring
• Merger and Post Merger Integration

8. Our Services
Training Services
AFCL provides cutting-edge, high-impact training programmes for transactional lawyers and in-house
counsel. We have trained hundreds of transactional lawyers and in-house counsel from India's most
prestigious law firms and corporate houses. Our USP is commercial, accounting, and corporate finance
training for deal lawyers.
Unlike many other random programmes on finance, our programmes are a premium product, specially
created for deal lawyers. It dwells into all accounting and financial issues of structuring, documentation
and negotiation that are relevant for transaction lawyers to understand.
Our range of training solutions are designed to match lawyer’s practical needs and are adapted to real-
world situations, rather than one-off seminars. We constantly review our training programmes and
generate innovative content in line with the changing needs of the profession.
Programmes we conduct:
• Applying principles of financial statements to structuring, drafting & negotiation
• Applying principles of corporate finance to structuring, drafting & negotiation
• Derivatives & Structured Finance for lawyers
• International Financial Reporting Standards for lawyers
• Direct Tax for lawyers
• Negotiating earnouts in acquisitions
• Contract drafting
• Accounting standards for lawyers

9. Our Team
Premal Shah - CEO Raghu Iyer - Consultant
As principal of AFCL Consultants, Premal Shah Raghu Iyer is a fellow of the Institute of
has led on a range of consulting mandates Chartered Accountants of India. He qualified as a
alongside senior/managing partners and senior Chartered Accountant in November 1984. He
in-house legal managers. His advice covers secured the 4th rank in his Final CA examination
strategic matters such as team acquisitions, (All India) and the 3rd rank in his Inter CA
mergers, combinations, alliances, new offices, examination (All India). He is associated as
partnership structuring, peer reviews, overall Adjunct Faculty with the S.P. Jain Institute of
firm strategy and its implementation including Management & Research (Mumbai and Dubai),
business planning, and the positioning of law which ranks among India’s top ten business
firms in their market. He has also been schools. He is also associated with the Bombay
instrumental in creating innovative commercial Stock Exchange and Dun & Bradstreet Financial
training modules and content for AFCL's various Education Solutions. His areas of interest include
training offerings. Finance, Accounting, and Direct Taxes.
Premal holds a B.Com. (H.R. College) and an As part of his practice, he works very closely
Ll.B. from Government Law College, Mumbai with some of India’s top business houses, such as
University. He began his career as a commercial Tata, the HDFC Group, and the GMR Group on
lawyer at Wadia Ghandy & Co., advising on diverse consulting assignments. He is also
private equity, M&A, and capital market associated with various business Groups in the
transactions. Having successfully cleared his CFA U.S., Europe, Africa, and the Middle East for
Level 1 examination and various investment whom he conducts audits, valuation, due
banking/financial modelling programmes, Premal's diligence, and various consulting assignments.
career bifurcated into finance, where he was
appointed to ENAM’s Investment Banking team. As a consultant, he plays a very important role in
delivering AFCLs various training programmes
This singular exposure to both law and finance for senior transactional lawyers. He also plays a
has allowed Premal to instinctively spot key role on AFCLs consulting mandates,
structural, commercial and financial perspectives particularly those relating to partnership
behind business transactions. He founded AFCL structuring, profit margin analysis, deal
in order to apply this experience and the structuring in mergers, acquisitions and
network he has cultivated, to the training and combinations.
consulting needs of the legal industry.

10. Our Clients
Our clients include some of India's top law firms and corporate houses; an indicative list is as below:
• ALMT Legal • Kanga & Co.
• AZB & Partners • Khaitan & Co.
• Bharucha & Partners • Kochhar & Co.
• Clasis Law • Lexygen
• Desai Diwanji • Platinum Partners
• DSK Legal • Phoenix Legal
• Economic Laws Practice • Rajani & Associates
• GVK • Talwar Thakore & Associates
• IndusLaw • Trilegal
• ICICI Bank • Udwadia & Udeshi
• IDFC • Universal Legal
• JSA • Wadia Ghandy & Co.
• Juris Corp

12. Premal Shah
CEO
AFCL
1 - First Floor, Examiner Press Building
Dalal Street | Mumbai - 400 001
T: +91 22 2267 3908
M: +91 9819 680 680
E: info@afcl.in