Four former FoxMandal Little (FML) partners have quit and set up their own practise. Rajan D Gupta [pictured], Saroj Kumar Jha, Gaurav Bhatia and Ravi Bishnoi have founded "SRGR Law Offices", a full service law firm currently based in Delhi with two litigation offices in Allahabad and Lucknow.

Rajan D Gupta told Bar & Bench that their endeavour to set up a full service law firm stemmed from the expertise of the founding partners in varied fields of law. Gupta is a qualified chartered accountant with experience in the field of corporate law, mergers and acquisitions and taxation. Saroj Jha handled the Real Estate and M&A practice in Fox Mandal. Ravi Bishnoi is a specialist in infrastructure as well as power projects and financing. Gaurav Bhatia has handled litigation matters in the Supreme Court and High Courts as well as arbitration issues.

FML's financial troubles have made the firm a sinking ship over the last few months. The firm lost its Corporate Practice head, Vineet Aneja in September, shortly after Saroj Jha's exit from FML. Gaurav Bhatia had left earlier, in March, to be an independent litigator. Gupta, however, declined to comment on whether FML's financial troubles necessitated the move, or whether this had been in the works prior to the fall of FML. SRGR Law Offices currently has six Associates, one of whom moved over with the Partners from FML.

SRGR has already attracted a large clientele with some of the client base approaching them from earlier positive relationships during their FML days. "SRGR Law Offices wishes to be counted as one of the top 10 law firms operating in the Capital by March 2011," envisions Gupta. The firm also intends to establish full service branches in Mumbai and Bangalore within the next eighteen months.