With sights set firmly on the future Kochhar recruits senior independent counsel to head its South India litigation practice

Pan India law firm, Kochhar & Co. has set its sights firmly on the future and in regard to that has roped in well known Senior Counsel, J. Sivanandaraaj to head the firm’s South India litigation practice. With Tamil Nadu poised to be the next industrial hub of the country, increasing the firm’s presence in Chennai seems like a logical and well thought out step..Pan India law firm, Kochhar & Co. has set its sights firmly on the future and in regard to that has roped in well known Senior Counsel, J. Sivanandaraaj (pictured) to head the firm’s South India litigation practice. With Tamil Nadu poised to be the next industrial hub of the country, increasing the firm’s presence in Chennai seems like a logical and well thought out step..Sivanandaraaj who is among the first students to have graduated from the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) will bring close to two decades of legal expertise to the firm. Other than litigation, Sivanandaraaj also brings considerable arbitration, mediation and commercial dispute experience. His previous clients include companies like Wipro, Heinz India, Godfrey Phillips, Dunlop and Cadilla Healthcare amongst others. He has extensive expertise in handling civil, criminal and IP related litigations and is widely acknowledged for his strategizing skills..Speaking on his decision to join a national law firm, Sivanandaraaj told Bar & Bench, “There is a change taking place and I have been doing similar work which is limited to the Chennai region. With joining Kochhar, I will be able to work on matters all over India as well as being a part of international cross-border transactions.”.Sivanandaraaj who is popular with other law firms who refer work to him a regular basis is confident of the continuing work flow from other firms, saying, “I am confident that the law firms have faith, ability and trust in my work and will continue to refer work to me as long as there isn’t a conflict of interest.”.With regards to Chennai being the new, upcoming region for law, Sivanandaraaj says, “Tamil Nadu is seeing a lot of investment and a lot of money is coming in. This leads to generation of a lot of work in both corporate law as well as litigation.”.Speaking to Bar & Bench, Rohit Kochhar, Managing Partner of Kochhar & Co., said, “Sivanandaraaj will continue as an independent arguing counsel and will merge his practice with the firm while keeping his existing clients.” On the decision to hire an arguing counsel as an equity partner, Kochhar said, “We are already the largest firm in Chennai in terms of bench strength as well as headcount. It makes sense to hire an arguing counsel given the amount of contentiouswork that the firm does.”.On the topic of his firm’s large presence in Chennai, Kochhar said, “Tamil Nadu is the industrial hub of India. According to me the industrial or manufacturing revolution in India hasn’t taken place as yet. The service sector cannot support a large number of people and for a population like ours we need growth in the manufacturing sector. In that sense Tamil Nadu will play an important role in supporting a large number of people in the manufacturing sector.”.On being asked whether his firm’s focus is shifting towards their litigation practice, Kochhar said, “I don’t think we are moving away from our corporate practice but we are definitely taking steps to strengthen our litigation practice by adding more meat, mass and muscle. Also, litigation is recession proof in India, so that adds to our advantage.”