Clifford Chance (CC) has ended its ‘best friends’ relationship with Indian outfit AZB & Partners as hopes fade of the Indian legal market opening up to foreign law firms any time soon.

The two firms decided to downgrade their ‘best friends’ relationship to ‘good friends’ at a meeting earlier this month. The decision was made because the long-awaited liberalisation of the Indian legal market looks increasingly unlikely to happen in the near future.