Raja Muhammad Akram & Co

Section 1: Basic Information

Raja Muhammad Akram (RMA) & Co started as a single partner firm in 1954 and converted into a multi-partner firm in 2015. Its offices are located in Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi. These offices provide services to the adjoining cities such as Peshawar, Abbottabad, Sialkot, Faisalabad, Sheikhupura, Sukkur, Hyderabad and Quetta. There are no defined departments in the firm. However, the firm is compartmentalized according to the specialization of every partner. The firm undertakes litigation, arbitration, transactional, civil, constitutional, advisory, and tax work. The firm does not provide any services related to criminal law.

Section 2: Structure of the Firm

There are six partners and almost 20 associates in RMA & Co. 11-12 Associates work in the Lahore office, and 4 associates work in Karachi and Islamabad offices each. One person is performing the responsibilities of Accounts and Human Resources. This staff member only performs administrative HR responsibilities. Each partner is responsible for hiring and firing their associates. In addition, a finance team of three partners overlooks the accounts of the firm. The firm has its internal hierarchy for the partners which is not represented outside. Moreover, ‘Associate’ is a single-tier position and there is no hierarchy among associates.

Section 3: Hiring Mechanism

Summer Internship:Three rounds of one-month-long internship are offered in summers and two rounds are offered in winters. Interns are required to do research and shadow associates. There is no compensation for the internship program. The announcements and process of the internship are published on the website. However, the partners prefer if a candidate approaches them directly for an internship position.

Associate:1-2 positions are available with each partner every year. The firm advertises these vacancies on its website and social media platform (e.gi LinkedIn). The firm also relies on current associates and approaches law schools for referring new candidates. Every partner follows their own process for hiring an associate. Some of these ways include reviewing resumes, conducting interviews and assessments etc. The base salary for a new associate is 30,000 PKR per month and it can increase up to 45,000 per month after one year of work. The firm gives a yearly bonus (minimum equal to one month’s salary) to its associates. The eligibility and amount of bonus depends on three things. First, the associate should have been working at the firm for at least one year, second, the performance of the associate and finally, the performance/earnings of the firm. The firm does not offer any commission to its associates for bringing in new cases. However, if an associate brings a case, he/she may be compensated through a bonus but this happens rarely.