Link Legal India Law, DH Law Associates merge to form 155-lawyer firm

Days before the new year begins, the Indian law firm industry is witness to consolidation, with the merger of Link Legal India Law Services and DH Law Associates. The new entity will retain the name Link Legal India Law Services; as per the firms’s press release, the firm will now have thirty-five Partners (including Associate Partners) and one hundred and fifty-five lawyers..The merger will see DH Law’s co-founder Nusrat Hassan assume the post of Co-Managing Partner, and also join the firm’s Management Committee. Hassan replaces AG Karkhanis as Co-Managing Partner, with Karkhanis now becoming the Chairman of the new entity. Link Legal’s co-founder Atul Sharma, will continue as Managing Partner..Co-Managing Partner, Nusrat Hassan said, “The merger of the two firms will galvanise the already strong full service practices and will create a national firm with unparalleled strengths in all practice areas. The merger will also increase the merged entity’s international reach.”.Managing Partner, Atul Sharma said, “Consolidation of legal practices is now the necessity of the legal services sector with our Indian lawyers being called upon to match international standards. We have been constant in our strife to build such an institution and towards this end, it was important that we merge with a firm that is culturally aligned and shares our vision, work ethos and value system.” .In 2012, Karkhanis’ India Law Services had merged with Link Legal, creating a 73-lawyer strong team across five offices. Since then, and particularly over the last year, the firm has been on an hiring spree of sorts..The firm has seen Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas former HR Director, Jayanarayanan NR take over as the firm’s CEO, lateral hires from DMD Associates (Harish Kumar) and Argus Partners (Shubha Karra) as well as Kochhar & Co (Saloni Gupta).