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!
Source: http://www.reddit.com/r/india/comments/3550ne/some_facts_about_harish_salve_the_lawyer/