Bihar’s double-digit growth in the past five years has opened up avenues for law firms to set up shops in the state, which till now, was waiting for a corporate ambience here.

According to the economic survey report placed at the Assembly on February 19, the growth rate of Bihar stood at 11.95 per cent in the past five years. This “outstanding” progress has had its impact on every sector and the legal field is no exception. The entry of law firms in Patna is a new phenomenon for the state.

Mumbai-based D.H. Law Associates, Advocates & Solicitors — a nationally acclaimed law firm — was the first one to enter Bihar a few months back to cash in on the growth story of the state, especially in the fields of construction and communications. For top-rung law firms, Patna was never a destination to open their branches because of absence of corporate houses in the state.

But Bihar — with its overwhelming growth story of construction (21.9 per cent growth in five years), communications (38.4 per cent), banking insurance (23.5 per cent) and trade-hotels-restaurants (15.1 per cent) sectors — has started, though slowly, attracting the law firms.

“We opened the branch of D.H. Law Associates because of two factors. First, the affinity factor of Nusrat Hassan, co-founder of the law firm, with the state from where he belongs to. Besides this, complaints kept coming to us from our clients for opening a branch to get better services in Bihar. Second, the state’s robust growth story,” said Saket Tiwary, an associate partner and head of the Patna office of the firm.

Bihar’s growth story is quite evident especially in the fields of infrastructure, including real estate and power sector. “We want to be the early birds to cash in on the state’s growth saga. Companies have started eyeing Bihar as an investment destination and once they come, they would require quality legal service where law firms would come in handy for such companies,” Tiwary added.

Explaining the significance of opening a shop in Bihar, Tiwary said a law firm is equipped to deal with all types of matters that ranged from corporate and commercial, merger, acquisition, advisory, litigation, dispute resolution through litigation and arbitration, real estate, trade mark, copy right, patent and several other things.

If a law firm has experts on all issues it means that it is a “one-point window solution” for all types of legal issues for clients, he said. The firm started functioning in Patna from July 2012. It also has branches in Mumbai, Delhi, Goa and China.

Tuhin Shanker, who deals in corporate matters, along with other cases at Patna High Court, said existence of law firms is also considered the index of development.

“The firms survive purely on the existence of serious and big corporate houses because it is quite expensive to run a law firm. Despite everything, there has been no corporatisation in Bihar, barring one mall, few market complexes besides a handful of industries. Law firms only thrive on corporate cases, which the state lacks desperately at present,” Shanker told The Telegraph.