Legal counsel for professional services firms in Hyderabad — your engagement letter is the whole relationship. We make sure it holds.
Consulting firms, accounting practices, architects, engineers, and other professional services organisations operate on relationships, confidentiality, and reputation. A poorly drafted engagement letter, a non-compete dispute, or a data breach can be existential. SIRI Law LLP structures your legal position before these issues arise.
A genuine first for the accounting and advisory profession
CA firms can finally advertise. Most haven't updated their engagement documents to match the new commercial reality.
For decades, Indian Chartered Accountant firms operated under a near-blanket prohibition on advertising — a restriction that shaped everything from how firms competed to how conservatively they described their services. That changed at ICAI's 447th Council Meeting in December 2025, and the revised Code of Ethics came fully into force on 1 April 2026. CA firms can now run enabled websites, publish contemporary write-up content, and market themselves in ways that were simply not permitted before. ICAI also cleared Global Networking Guidelines, giving firms a structured framework to formally affiliate with overseas accounting and consulting networks for the first time.
This is a genuine commercial opportunity, but it's arriving faster than most firms' underlying legal documentation has adapted. A firm that starts advertising specific service claims, publishing case studies, or entering a global network arrangement is taking on new categories of risk — claims arising from marketing representations, cross-border liability allocation in network arrangements, and IP questions around shared branding — that a decade-old engagement letter template was never built to address. The expanded management consultancy scope ICAI has now formally recognised (forensic accounting, AI-related advisory, sustainability reporting) compounds this: broader service lines mean broader liability exposure if the engagement letter hasn't kept pace.
The underlying pattern across all of this is the same one that shows up in every professional services dispute we handle: the engagement letter is the whole relationship, and most firms treat it as a formality rather than the primary risk-allocation document it actually is. Scope creep, IP ownership in deliverables, limitation of liability clauses, and data handling terms all live or die in that document — and it's rarely reviewed with the same rigour as the client work it governs.
Where professional services risk actually builds
Professional services firms cannot rely on generic legal counsel
These are the recurring patterns behind the disputes SIRI's professional services practice handles most often.
Engagement letters treated as formalities
Scope-of-work ambiguity, missing limitation of liability clauses, and undefined change-order procedures turn routine client relationships into disputes the moment expectations diverge from delivery.
Partner exit disputes surface contract gaps
Ambiguous non-compete, client-ownership, and capital-account settlement terms in LLP agreements create the most damaging disputes precisely when a partner departs to a competing firm.
Deliverable IP ownership left undefined
Reports, models, designs, and proprietary methodologies can be inadvertently transferred to a client when engagement letters describe the deliverable without clearly retaining the firm's underlying IP.
Client data obligations underestimated
Firms holding client financial, legal, or health data as Data Processors under the DPDPA carry real breach-notification and liability exposure that a standard PI policy may not automatically cover.
What we cover
Legal services across contracts, liability, employment, IP, and regulatory compliance
From engagement documentation through partnership structuring, dispute resolution, and data protection compliance.
Engagement Agreements
Professional services agreements, engagement letters, scope-of-work documentation, and limitation of liability clauses — drafted to reflect what the engagement actually delivers, not a generic template.
- Engagement letter and scope-of-work drafting
- Limitation of liability clause design
- Change-order and variation procedures
- Advertising-compliant service descriptions post-ICAI reform
Professional Indemnity
PI insurance advisory, negligence claim defence, and pre-litigation risk assessment for professional services disputes, including DPDPA coverage review.
- PI policy review against DPDPA exposure
- Negligence claim defence
- Pre-litigation risk assessment
- Client contract liability cap negotiation
Partnership & LLP Structuring
LLP agreements, profit sharing structures, partner admission and exit, and conversion from partnership to LLP, with exit terms built to survive an actual departure.
- LLP agreement drafting
- Partner admission and exit terms
- Capital account and settlement provisions
- Partnership-to-LLP conversion
Non-Compete Enforcement
Non-solicitation clauses, client poaching disputes, restrictive covenant enforcement, and injunction proceedings against departing partners or senior staff.
- Enforceable restraint drafting
- Client poaching dispute response
- Injunction proceedings
- Departing-partner risk assessment
IP in Deliverables
Ownership of work product, methodology IP protection, software licensing, and client IP assignment clauses that protect what the firm needs to retain for its next engagement.
- Deliverable and methodology IP clauses
- Software and tool licensing
- Client IP assignment scoping
- Proprietary template protection
Data Protection
DPDP Act compliance, client data governance frameworks, and data breach response for professional services firms holding sensitive client financial, legal, or health information.
- DPDPA Data Processor compliance
- Client data governance frameworks
- Breach response and notification
- PI-DPDPA coverage gap review
Evidence, not guesswork
What ICAI's 2026 reform actually changes for CA firms
This is a structured relaxation, not unrestricted marketing freedom. Here's specifically what shifted.
| Area | Before 1 April 2026 | After 1 April 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Advertising | Near-blanket prohibition on promotional content | Structured framework permitting contemporary advertising within guidelines |
| Firm websites | Tightly restricted content and functionality | Enabled websites with expanded permitted content |
| Global networking | Unstructured, creating compliance uncertainty | Formal Global Networking Guidelines for overseas affiliation |
| Service scope | Traditional audit, tax, and assurance services | Expanded to forensic accounting, AI advisory, sustainability reporting |
| CSR/impact assessment services | Not clearly recognised under MCS portfolio | Effective 11 Dec 2025 — formally permitted |
Sources: ICAI 447th Council Meeting proceedings (10–11 December 2025); ICAI revised Code of Ethics, 13th Edition, effective 1 April 2026; ICAI Global Networking Guidelines 2025. Confirm current guideline text before publishing specific marketing content, as the framework is new and interpretive guidance continues to develop.
What the numbers actually mean
Four figures that frame professional services legal risk today
Gross written premium across India's professional indemnity and liability insurance market — growing 18% year-on-year as firms recognise real exposure.
₹25 lakh minimum for IT and management consultants; ₹50 lakh commonly recommended for financial advisors and CAs, per current market guidance.
The most significant Code of Ethics change for the accounting profession in decades — firms marketing before reviewing their engagement documentation risk a mismatch.
Government and large corporate contracts above this value increasingly require proof of professional indemnity coverage at the MSA stage.
How we engage
Four stages from instruction to a resilient practice
A structured engagement that reviews your actual documentation before recommending changes.
Documentation audit
Review of current engagement letters, LLP agreement, PI policy coverage, and IP clauses against your actual service scope and the ICAI reform's implications.
Week 1Framework remediation
Updated engagement letter templates, LLP agreement provisions, non-compete drafting, and PI-DPDPA coverage gap closure.
Weeks 2–4Compliance management
Ongoing DPDPA compliance monitoring, ICAI guideline updates, regulatory licensing renewals, and advisory support as your service lines expand.
OngoingDispute resolution
Client dispute response, partner exit disputes, non-compete enforcement, and negligence claim defence, with the same counsel who designed your framework.
As neededWhy SIRI
A lawyer who understands how professional services firms actually operate
Your engagement structures, IP ownership, non-compete frameworks, and data obligations require counsel who understands the commercial and operational reality of running a professional practice, not just the statute.
Reform-aware documentation
We track ICAI, ICSI, and Bar Council rule changes as they happen — your engagement letters and marketing materials reflect the current framework, not a template frozen before the 2026 reforms.
DPDPA + PI coverage integration
We review your professional indemnity policy specifically against DPDPA exposure, closing the gap between what your PI policy assumes and what your firm's actual data handling creates as liability.
Same counsel, engagement to dispute
The team that drafts your engagement letters and LLP agreement is the same team that defends them in a dispute — no gap between the documentation and the litigation strategy.
Legal, cybersecurity, and GRC under one retainer
Attorney-client privilege covers all technical findings, including data governance assessments — a structural advantage for firms holding sensitive client information.
Who we work with
Professional services firms across disciplines
From accounting and audit practices to architecture and engineering consultancies — the underlying legal risk pattern is consistent even where the regulatory body differs.
Frequently asked
Professional services legal counsel, answered directly
Can our CA or professional services firm now advertise under ICAI's updated rules?
Yes, within limits. ICAI's revised Code of Ethics, approved at its 447th Council Meeting and effective 1 April 2026, allows Chartered Accountant firms to advertise for the first time in decades, including enabled websites, contemporary write-up content, and expanded firm visibility. This replaces a blanket prohibition with a structured framework, but it is not unrestricted marketing; content still needs to fit within ICAI's revised Advertisement and Website Guidelines, and firms should have their marketing materials reviewed against the specific framework before publishing.
Does professional indemnity insurance cover a DPDPA client data breach?
Increasingly, yes, but not automatically. Standard professional indemnity policies were written for negligence and errors-and-omissions claims, not specifically for data protection liability. As DPDPA enforcement has become real, insurers have begun extending some PI policies to cover DPDPA-related civil claims, but this needs to be confirmed as an explicit policy extension, not assumed. A firm holding client financial, legal, or health data as a Data Processor should review its PI policy specifically for this coverage rather than assume a standard policy responds to a DPDPA claim.
What does the LLP Act require for partner admission and exit?
The LLP Act 2008 requires a written LLP agreement governing profit sharing, decision-making authority, and partner admission or exit terms; in its absence, the First Schedule's default provisions apply, which are rarely appropriate for a professional services partnership. Partner exit, particularly a departure to a competing firm, is where poorly drafted agreements cause the most damage, since ambiguous non-compete, client-ownership, and capital-account settlement terms are exactly what a departing partner disputes.
Who owns the IP in deliverables we create for clients?
It depends entirely on what the engagement letter says, and most engagement letters say too little. Absent clear contractual language, ownership of reports, models, designs, code, and methodologies can be genuinely ambiguous between firm and client, and the firm's own underlying methodology, templates, and proprietary tools are especially at risk of inadvertent transfer if the IP clause is drafted around the specific deliverable rather than around what the firm needs to retain for its next client.
What should our engagement letter address that a generic template often misses?
A defensible engagement letter needs a precisely scoped statement of work, a clear change-order procedure for scope expansion, a limitation of liability clause calibrated to your actual PI cover, explicit IP ownership terms for both deliverables and underlying methodology, and data handling terms consistent with your DPDPA obligations. Generic templates typically address only the first of these in any real depth.
What regulatory bodies do you handle representation before?
We advise on compliance and represent clients before ICAI, ICSI, and Bar Council frameworks, alongside sector-specific licensing bodies relevant to architecture, engineering, and other regulated professional disciplines, coordinating regulatory representation with the underlying commercial and liability position.
Ready when you are
Ready to engage?
Schedule a confidential consultation with our legal team. We will review your engagement documentation, PI coverage, and LLP structure against the current regulatory framework — no obligation, no pressure.
Related services
Other ways SIRI Law LLP supports professional practices
Visit or contact us
SIRI Law LLP — Hyderabad, India
| Registered office | HITEC City, Madhapur, Hyderabad, Telangana 500081, India |
| Telephone | +91 79819 12046 |
| info@sirilawllp.com | |
| Other offices | New Delhi, India · Austin, Texas, USA · Online worldwide |
| Hours | Mon–Sat, 9:30 AM – 7:00 PM IST · Emergency line 24/7 |