Irfan & Irfan Attorneys at Law

Section 1: Basic Information

Irfan & Irfan is a full-service law firm that initiated its business in 1949. Its offices are in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad. In addition to these cities, the firm represents clients in every city (e.gi Peshawar, Faisalabad, Bahawalpur) where there are High Court benches. The firm also has regional presence in UAE and Saudi Arabia through which they take work from several different countries. The firm’s client base is mostly foreign as they work with multinational companies. The firm’s services include but are not limited to Company law, Litigation, Alternative Dispute Resolution, and Intellectual Property. However, Irfan & Irfan does not offer any services related to tax, family and hard-core criminal matters.

Section 2: Structure of the Firm

Irfan & Irfan is a medium-to-large sized firm with 40 lawyers including six partners. There are ten associates in Karachi, four in Islamabad and the remaining in Lahore. The firm has a well-established accounts department with twenty employees. There is one-man human resources department. The firm offers a partnership track however this track is only for salary-based partnerships. The firm does not offer any equity-based partnership to its associates. The hierarchy among the legal team is as follows.

Associate	2-3 years
Senior Associate	For almost 8 years
Junior Partner
Partner

Section 3: Hiring Mechanism

Hiring is on a need basis only. The firm does not give any ads for internship or associate vacancies. Candidates come through references from the firm’s associates, word of mouth and law school students. Both for internship and associate positions every candidate is required to send in their CV along with a cover letter and appear for an interview.

Internship:The firm prefers interns to join during summers and stay for three months. The interns are paid a stipend of 10 to15,000 PKR per month. They are required to do research work and are involved in whatever work the firm is doing. If a candidate is interested, they are allowed to shadow the litigators to the court. Exceptionally good interns maybe given drafting tasks.

Associate:Associates are hired on six-month probation for a salary of 40 to 45,000 PKR per month. By their second year, depending on their performance, the associates may get their salary increased up to 1 to 1.5 lac per month. The associates are given annual increments depending on their performance, inflation, and the firm’s business. There is no defined percentage for these increments. The firm also offers discretion and need-based bonuses to its associates. The firm offers provident funds to its associate according to the government’s guidelines. The associates (generally senior associates) are eligible for health insurance provided their salary is 2 lacs and above. Subject to their performance, the associates who have been working with the firm for 5 years are eligible to lease a car through the firm. There is no policy of paying finder’s fee to the associates for bringing business.