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People  Moves    (Jan-­‐April  ’13)    

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Roundup    The  first  four  months  of  this  year  has  seen  a  significant  number  of  lateral  shifts  amongst  the  country’s  bigger  law  firms,  while  breakaway  firms  have  either  dissolved  or  merged  with  other  startups.  At  the  same  time,  this  period   has   also   seen   a   number   of   Partner   promotions,   indicating   a   possible   rise   in  market   sentiment.   Of  course,  the  spate  of  promotions  could  also  be  a  move  towards  stemming  attrition,  something  that  seems  to  be  plaguing  quite  a  few  law  firms.    Lateral  Shifts    When  it  comes  to  lateral  shifts,  the  largest  movement  has  been  at  Economic  Laws  Practice,  where  14  lawyers,  including  Partners  Tarun  Gulati,  Sanjay  Notani,  and  Associate  Partner  Neil  Hildrith  have  shifted  to  PDS  Legal.    Nishith  Desai  saw  two  of  its  senior  lawyers;  Sidharth  Shah  and  Bijal  Ajinkya  leave  the  firm  to  join  Khaitan  &  Co.        Seth  Dua  Associates  got  three  new  partners  and  saw  exit  of  one;  Salman  Waris  from  HSA  Advocates,  Gautam  Chopra   from  Vaish  Associates  and  Competition  Law  expert  VK  Aggarwal   joined  Seth  Dua  while  Rahul  Goel  left  to  join  Dhir  &  Dhir.    Other   Partner   shifts   include   Desai   Diwanji’s   Amit   Khansaheb   moving   to   BMR   Legal,   JSA’s   Abeezar   E  Faizullabhoy  shifting  to  a  power  projects  company,  Sidanth  Rajgopal  moving  from  Clasis  Law  to  Clyde  &  Co  where   he   has   been   made   an   Equity   Partner   and   Harry   Chawla,   Senior   Partner   and   member   of   the  management  committee  at  Amarchand  Mangaldas  moving  to  Kochhar  &  Co.    

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Retirement    J.  Sagar  Associates  saw  the  retirement  of  its  founding  partner,  a  decision  that  was  made  10  years  back.  Jyoti  has  retired  as  an  equity  partner  of  his  firm  setting  the  stage  for  Berjis  Desai.  Jyoti  will  now  be  associated  with  the   firm   as   a   Chairman   in   a  mentoring   role.  Wadia   Ghandy   also   saw   the   departure   of   one   of   their   Senior  Partners,  Djena  Sunavala  who  left  after  working  at  the  firm  for  23  years.    Promotions    J.   Sagar  Associates,  which   saw   the  departure   of   their   founder   Jyoti   Sagar   earlier   this   year,   has   announced  bumper  promotions  promoting  18  of  its  Senior  Associates  to  the  post  of  Retained  Partner,  while  also  making  two  of  its  Retained  Partners  (Vishnu  Sudarsan  and  Varghese  Thomas)  Equity  Partner  Elect.        Khaitan  &  Co  has  also  seen  some  changes  at  the  top,  bringing  in  Morgan  Stanley’s  Sudhir  Bassi  as  the  firm’s  new   Executive   Director.   Khaitan   &   Co   also   promoted   5   Principal   Associates   to   Associate   Partnership.   In  second  place  is  Desai  &  Diwanji  that  saw  10  Associate  Partners  being  promoted  to  Partnership.  Anand  and  Anand  has  also  seen  a  rise  in  the  number  of  Partners,  with  6  new  partner  promotions.      New  firms/Merger/Dissolution    The  initial  months  saw  the  establishment  of  “V  Chambers  of  Law”  by  ex-­‐AZB  Partner,  Vineetha  MG  in  January  this  year.  However  a  few  weeks  later,  Vineetha  merged  her  firm  with  Narasappa  Dorawamy  &  Raja  to  form  a  new  law  firm,  “Samvad”.  This  time  period  also  saw  the  integration  of  practices  of  both  Link  Legal  and  India  Law  Services  to  form  Link  Legal  -­‐  India  Law  Services.    

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 The  first  two  months  of  this  year  saw  the  last  steps  in  the  dissolution  of  Alliance  Legal,  a  firm  co-­‐founded  by  Vishnu  Jerome,  Ravi  Kumar  and  Priyanka  Roy.  While  Jerome  has  opened  up  the  Mumbai  office  of  Poovayya  &  Co,  Kumar  has  returned  to  Amarchand  Mangaldas  as  Senior  Consultant.  Roy,  on  the  other  hand,  has   joined  the  Mumbai  office  of  Indus  Law  where  she  is  an  Equity  Partner.    In  London,  Clasis  Law  co-­‐founder  Shalini  Agarwal  left  the  firm  and  has  established  a  legal  consultancy  firm  “In  Se  Legal”      International  Firms    With  respect  to  international  law  firms,  Allen  &  Overy  promoted  Counsel  Gautam  Narasimhan  at  the  firm’s  Singapore   office,   to   Partnership,   and  Linklaters  made   its  Manaing  Associate   Savi  Hebbur,   a   Partner   at   the  London  office  in  the  last  week  of  April.        

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Firm Person Movement Anand and Anand

Dhruv Anand Shrawan Chopra Madhu Rewari Revanta Mathur Sandhya Singh Swati Sharma

Promoted to Partnership Promoted to Partnership Promoted to Partnership Promoted to Partnership Promoted to Partnership Promoted to Partnership

Amarchand Mangaldas

Ravi Kumar (Founding Partner, Alliance Legal) Harry Chawla (Equity Partner)

Joins as Senior Consultant/Principal Associate Joins Kochhar & Co as Senior Partner & Managing

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Firm Person Movement Partner, Mumbai

Allen & Overy Gautam Narasimhan (Counsel)

Promoted to Partnership in Singapore office

ALMT Legal

Preeti Balwani (Senior Associate)

Leaves to join KS Partners as Salaried Partner

Archer & Angel

Bidyut Tamuly

Promoted to Partnership

BMR Legal Amit Khansaheb

Joins as Partner from Desai Diwanji

Clasis Law

Shalini Agarwal (Founding Partner) Sidanth Rajagopal (Partner)

Resigns to establish consultancy firm “In Se Legal” Leaves to join Clyde & Co as Equity Partner

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Firm Person Movement

Clyde & Co Sidanth Rajagopal (Partner)

Joins as Equity Partner from Clasis Law

Desai & Diwanji

   Amit Khansaheb (Partner) Aslam Ahmed (Associate Partner) Madhavan Srivatsan (Associate Partner) Rachna Jain (Associate Partner) Raghav Mathur (Associate Partner) Joebin Devassy (Associate Partner) Shyam Pandya (Associate Partner) Siddharth Mody (Associate Partner)

Leaves to join BMR Legal as a Partner Promoted to Partnership Promoted to Partnership Promoted to Partnership Promoted to Partnership Promoted to Partnership Promoted to Partnership Promoted to Partnership

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Firm Person Movement Ketaki Gor Mehta (Associate Partner) Natasha Treasurywala (Associate Partner) Aneesh Gupte (Associate Partner)

Promoted to Partnership Promoted to Partnership Promoted to Partnership

Dhir & Dhir Associates

Rahul Goel Anu Monga

Joins as Partner from Seth Dua Joins from Seth Dua

Economic Laws Practice

Tarun Gulati (Partner) Sanjay Notani (Partner) Neil Hildrith (Associate Partner) Team of 11 lawyers

Leaves to join PDS Legal Leaves to join PDS Legal Leaves to join PDS Legal Leaves to join PDS Legal

Fladgate LLP

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Firm Person Movement Mythily Katsaris (India Desk)

Promoted to Partnership

HSA Advocates

Salman Waris (Partner) Harvinder Singh (Partner Designate) Mohit D. Ram Rajesh Pathania

Leaves to join Seth Dua Promoted to Partnership Promoted to Associate Partner Promoted to Associate Partner

Indus Law Priyanka Roy (Co-founder of Alliance Legal)

Joins as Equity Partner

In Se Legal Shalini Agarwal

New consultancy firm established

J. Sagar Associates

Jyoti Sagar (Founding and Equity Partner)

Retires; to act as Chairman

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Firm Person Movement Abeezar E Faizullabhoy (Equity Partner)  Vishnu Sudarsan (Retained Partner)

Varghese Thomas (Retained Partner)

Nandini Mehta (Partner at Vidhii Partners) Apoorva Misra (Senior Associate) Jyotika Khilnani Guha (Senior Associate) Mayank Mishra (Senior Associate)

Nitin Kala (Senior Associate)

Poonam Verma (Senior Associate) Akshay Nagpal (Senior Associate)

Leaves to join Power Projects Company Promoted to Equity Partner Elect Promoted to Equity Partner Elect Joins as Retained Partner Promoted to Retained Partner Promoted to Retained Partner Promoted to Retained Partner Promoted to Retained Partner

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Firm Person Movement Minu Dwivedi (Senior Associate) Nitesh Bhasin (Senior Associate) Pallavi Puri (Senior Associate) Mithun Thanks (Senior Associate) Jamshed Bhumgara (Senior Associate) Kavita Agarwal (Senior Associate) Rajesh Pal (Senior Associate) Arjun Perikal (Senior Associate) Probir Roy (Senior Associate) Seema Sukumar (Senior Associate) Malini Raju (Senior Associate)

Promoted to Retained Partner Promoted to Retained Partner Promoted to Retained Partner Promoted to Retained Partner Promoted to Retained Partner Promoted to Retained Partner Promoted to Retained Partner Promoted to Retained Partner

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Firm Person Movement Promoted to Retained Partner Promoted to Retained Partner Promoted to Retained Partner Promoted to Retained Partner Promoted to Retained Partner

Juris Corp

Hufriz Wadia Fraser M Alexander (Of Counsel)

Joins as Partner (Chennai office) from Al Tamimi & Company Leaves to join Majmudar & Partners as Associate

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Firm Person Movement Partner

KS Partners

Preeti Balwani

Joins as Salaried Partner from ALMT

Khaitan & Co

Joyjyoti Misra (Principal Associates) Prateek Kumar (Principal Associates) Susmit Pushar (Principal Associates) Adheesh Nargolkar (Principal Associates) Niren Patel (Principal Associates) Siddarth Shah Bijal Ajinkya

Promoted to Associate Partner Promoted to Associate Partner Promoted to Associate Partner Promoted to Associate Partner Promoted to Associate Partner Joins as Corporate and

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Firm Person Movement Sudhir Basi Funds Partner from Nishith

Desai Joins as Tax and Funds Partner from Nishith Desai Joins as Executive Director from Morgan Stanley

Kochhar & Co

Bidan Chandran (Partner) Harry Chawla

Leaves to join PDS Associates as Partner Joins as Partner from Amarchand Mangaldas

Linklaters Savi Hebbur (Managing Associate)

Promoted to Partnership

Lexport Mukesh Yadav (Senior Associate) Mukul Chandra (Senior Associate)

Promoted to Associate Partner Promoted to Associate

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Firm Person Movement Partner

Majmudar & Partners

Fraser M Alexander

Joins as Associate Partner from Juris Corp

M.V.Kini & Co

Tavinder Sidhu (Principal Associate)

Promoted to Partnership

Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP

Sanjeet Malik (Of Counsel) in Hong Kong office

Leaves firm

Narasappa Dorasamy & Raja (now Samvad)

Rohan George NDR and V Chambers of Law merge to set up Samvad

Joins as Partner from RKG Associates

Nishith Desai Associates

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Firm Person Movement Siddarth Shah (Funds Co-Head)

Bijal Ajinkya (Tax Co-Head)

Leaves to join Khaitan & Co as a Partner Leaves to join Khaitan & Co as a Partner

Pangea3 Antony Alex (Managing Director)

Moves to Rainmaker as CEO

PDS Legal

Tarun Gulati Sanjay Notani Neil Hildrith

Joins as Partner from ELP Joins as Partner from ELP Joins from ELP

PDS Associates

Bidan Chandran

Leaves Kochhar & Co to join as Partner

Poovayya & Co Vishnu Jerome (Co-founder at Alliance Legal)

Joins as Partner to open

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Firm Person Movement Mumbai Office

Rainmaker

Antony Alex Nikhil Chandra (CEO)

Joins as CEO from Pangea3 Moves to post of Founder and Chief Strategist

Seth Dua Associates

VK Aggarwal (ex-officer CET, CGIT) Salman Waris (Partner, HSA Advocates) joins as Partner

Gautam Chopra Rahul Goel (Partner) Anu Monga (Senior Asociate)

Joins Seth Dua as Partner Leaves HSA Advocates to join as Partner Joins as Partner from Vaish Associates Leaves to join Dhir & Dhir Associates Leaves to join Dhir & Dhir Associates

V Chambers of Law

Vineetha MG

New firm established, merges to form Samvad

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Firm Person Movement Vaish Advocates

Gautam Chopra (Principal Associate)

Leaves to join Seth Dua Associates

Vidhii Partners

Nandini Mehta (Partner)

Leaves to join JSA as Retained Partner

Wadia Ghandy

Djena Sunawala (Senior Partner)

Resigns