Dear Friends,
54 year old Harish Salve, former Solicitor General of India, is, arguably, today's most expensive lawyer in India. He has represented high-profile cases like Mulayam Singh Yadav, Prakash Singh Badal and Lalit Modi but his reputation (and legal fees!) started sky-rocketing after he won Mukesh Ambani's gas dispute against brother Anil who
was represented by Ram Jethmalani. His latest on-going-case is representing Ratan Tata who has gone to the Supreme Court claiming that his privacy has been violated in the Nira Radia tapes scandal.
54 year old Harish Salve, former Solicitor General of India, is, arguably, today's most expensive lawyer in India. He has represented high-profile cases like Mulayam Singh Yadav, Prakash Singh Badal and Lalit Modi but his reputation (and legal fees!) started sky-rocketing after he won Mukesh Ambani's gas dispute against brother Anil who
was represented by Ram Jethmalani. His latest on-going-case is representing Ratan Tata who has gone to the Supreme Court claiming that his privacy has been violated in the Nira Radia tapes scandal.
Hiring Harish Salve as lawyer does not come cheap. He charges a
massive fee of Rs 30 lakhs per day. His fees alone is supposed
to have cost Mukesh Ambani a whopping Rs 15 crore. Even this pales into
insignificance when you compare it with the Rs 60 crore which he is supposed to
have collected in the Forest Case of TN Godavarman Thirumulpad.
In addition, he has to be provided overnight five-star suites
and first class air-tickets. A dinner for him and his team at a five star
hotel can cost over Rs 2 lakh. Clients have been known to present him a hot
Vertu phone or a Jaeger-LeCoutre watch to keep him in good mood. Further, Salve
will only accept the first brief. In other words, he will never be the
second counsel to anyone else in any case. Salve drives a Bentley and has a
holiday home in Goa. Fashion-conscious Salve visits London frequently to shop
for his clothes. That is when his clients do not get them for him as in the
case of Mukesh Ambani who is supposed to have bought an entire wardrobe of
clothes for him when fighting his brother!
The Indian public are already contemptuous of our slow and corrupt
judiciary. What they are not so aware of is that only the super rich in our
country can afford to hire our top lawyers who alone can win court cases.
In America, it is well known that you can get away with any crime because a
good lawyer can get you out of the consequences of your crime. The names of
Michael Jackson and OJ Simpson immediately come to our minds. But,
in a country like India which can boast of lawyers like Gandhi
and Nehru, should we not expect more?
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