The first six months of the year saw a number of lateral shifts amongst the country’s bigger law firms, as well as the entry of new players in the field..And in addition to startup ventures, the same period saw a high number of Partner promotions. When it comes to consolidation and mergers of smaller firms, there were a few mergers in the recent months; while at the same time the trend of establishing “break away” firms continues..Overall, one could say that things have been fairly stable, but with the economy looking like it is picking up, this could change in a hurry..Lateral Shifts.When it comes to lateral shifts, BMR Legal saw the addition of three Partners, one from Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan and two from Themsis Associates. Khaitan & Co got three Associate Partners from JSA, Trilegal and White & Case each..Luthra & Luthra lost its Partner Shishir Vayttaden to Amarchand Mangaldas while HSA Advocates Partner, Jagvir Singh left the firm to join Jupiter Law Partners. Anuradha Iyer, one of the founders of I&S left her firm to join Tatva Legal in Mumbai. Indus Law got a new Partner from Khaitan & Co, and Hufriz Wadia left Juris Corp to join Kochhar & Co..Ex-AZB Partner Yogesh Bhattarai joined Trilegal as a Partner, with the firm also getting a Partner in the form of Himanshu Sinha who moved from Deloitte..Promotions.When it comes to making new Partners, Khaitan & Co leads the way, with two new Equity Partners and 11 Associate Partners. In second place is JSA, which announced 9 new Partners, exactly half of last year..Economic Laws Practice wasn’t too far behind, making six Associate partners and also hiring Bharti Airtel General Counsel, Jyoti Pawar. Lex Orbis promoted four of its practice heads to partnership and Khaitan Sud & Partners also made four new partners. AZB & Partners, which saw the departure of two of its Partners, made four new Partners in the first six months. .Tatva Legal promoted three of its Senior Associates to partnership while both Luthra & Luthra and Samvad Partners made two Partners..JSA saw the exit of Dispute Resolution Partner, Promod Nair who moved to an-inhouse role while AZB lost Partners, Meera Singh and Debashish Sankhar..New firms & mergers.The trend of breakaway firms continued this year as well with Khaitan & Co’s Corporate Partner, Vaishali Sharma leaving the firm to set up Agram Legal Consulting. Another new law firm, Altum Law, was set up by NLSIU grads Anindita Phukan, Shekhar Vyas and Dinesh Singh..As far as mergers go, there was one noticeable merging of practices between Chennai-based law firm Vichar Partners and JSA, with the new venture effectively becoming JSA’s Chennai office..Interestingly, three in-house counsels resigned from their roles to set up their independent ventures. Infosys General Counsel Nithya Nandan Radhakrishnan resigned to set up Brown Tree Consulting while Facebook Counsel Chetan Nagendra established his own law offices, and MSD Pharma’s in-house counsel, Jaspreet Singh Chandok, resigned to set up Win Law Group..International Firms.There hasn’t been too much to report when it comes to the India practice of international law firms. Allen & Overy promoted Counsel Amit Singh to Partner at the firm’s Hong Kong office while Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher made Priya Mehra an Of Counsel. On the whole, it has been a quiet time for Indian lawyers working in foreign shores..Concluding remarks.With market experts predicting a rise in India’s GDP, law firms are gearing up for the increased workload. At the same time, increasing competition within the legal market means that law firms are trying hard to retain top talent; Partner promotions may well be one method to fight poaching..The trend of breakaway law firms, more specifically those being established by in-house counsels, could very well signify a turning point in the role of the general counsel. Long believed to be limited to compliance alone, the in-house legal counsel is fast gaining importance within the legal industry. Establishing new firms could be a reflection of this fact..Interestingly, the first six months have seen fewer high-level exits indicating that some efforts are being made to retain people at the top, in this competing market. The first half has hardly seen any major poaching amongst the big law firms..Conversely, one possible fall-out of this could be an increasing top-heavy structure amongst bigger law firms. Going forward, this may be one issue that law firms would do well to address..You can read the complete report below.
The first six months of the year saw a number of lateral shifts amongst the country’s bigger law firms, as well as the entry of new players in the field..And in addition to startup ventures, the same period saw a high number of Partner promotions. When it comes to consolidation and mergers of smaller firms, there were a few mergers in the recent months; while at the same time the trend of establishing “break away” firms continues..Overall, one could say that things have been fairly stable, but with the economy looking like it is picking up, this could change in a hurry..Lateral Shifts.When it comes to lateral shifts, BMR Legal saw the addition of three Partners, one from Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan and two from Themsis Associates. Khaitan & Co got three Associate Partners from JSA, Trilegal and White & Case each..Luthra & Luthra lost its Partner Shishir Vayttaden to Amarchand Mangaldas while HSA Advocates Partner, Jagvir Singh left the firm to join Jupiter Law Partners. Anuradha Iyer, one of the founders of I&S left her firm to join Tatva Legal in Mumbai. Indus Law got a new Partner from Khaitan & Co, and Hufriz Wadia left Juris Corp to join Kochhar & Co..Ex-AZB Partner Yogesh Bhattarai joined Trilegal as a Partner, with the firm also getting a Partner in the form of Himanshu Sinha who moved from Deloitte..Promotions.When it comes to making new Partners, Khaitan & Co leads the way, with two new Equity Partners and 11 Associate Partners. In second place is JSA, which announced 9 new Partners, exactly half of last year..Economic Laws Practice wasn’t too far behind, making six Associate partners and also hiring Bharti Airtel General Counsel, Jyoti Pawar. Lex Orbis promoted four of its practice heads to partnership and Khaitan Sud & Partners also made four new partners. AZB & Partners, which saw the departure of two of its Partners, made four new Partners in the first six months. .Tatva Legal promoted three of its Senior Associates to partnership while both Luthra & Luthra and Samvad Partners made two Partners..JSA saw the exit of Dispute Resolution Partner, Promod Nair who moved to an-inhouse role while AZB lost Partners, Meera Singh and Debashish Sankhar..New firms & mergers.The trend of breakaway firms continued this year as well with Khaitan & Co’s Corporate Partner, Vaishali Sharma leaving the firm to set up Agram Legal Consulting. Another new law firm, Altum Law, was set up by NLSIU grads Anindita Phukan, Shekhar Vyas and Dinesh Singh..As far as mergers go, there was one noticeable merging of practices between Chennai-based law firm Vichar Partners and JSA, with the new venture effectively becoming JSA’s Chennai office..Interestingly, three in-house counsels resigned from their roles to set up their independent ventures. Infosys General Counsel Nithya Nandan Radhakrishnan resigned to set up Brown Tree Consulting while Facebook Counsel Chetan Nagendra established his own law offices, and MSD Pharma’s in-house counsel, Jaspreet Singh Chandok, resigned to set up Win Law Group..International Firms.There hasn’t been too much to report when it comes to the India practice of international law firms. Allen & Overy promoted Counsel Amit Singh to Partner at the firm’s Hong Kong office while Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher made Priya Mehra an Of Counsel. On the whole, it has been a quiet time for Indian lawyers working in foreign shores..Concluding remarks.With market experts predicting a rise in India’s GDP, law firms are gearing up for the increased workload. At the same time, increasing competition within the legal market means that law firms are trying hard to retain top talent; Partner promotions may well be one method to fight poaching..The trend of breakaway law firms, more specifically those being established by in-house counsels, could very well signify a turning point in the role of the general counsel. Long believed to be limited to compliance alone, the in-house legal counsel is fast gaining importance within the legal industry. Establishing new firms could be a reflection of this fact..Interestingly, the first six months have seen fewer high-level exits indicating that some efforts are being made to retain people at the top, in this competing market. The first half has hardly seen any major poaching amongst the big law firms..Conversely, one possible fall-out of this could be an increasing top-heavy structure amongst bigger law firms. Going forward, this may be one issue that law firms would do well to address..You can read the complete report below.
