Delhi based boutique competition practice firm Dhall Law Chambers has hired two Indian qualified LLM degree holders from King's College London.

Vivek Agarwal and Sonam Mathur joined Dhall Law Chambers as associates after completing their masters in law from the UK university.

Founder partner Vinod Dhall told Legally India: "[King's College] professor Richard Whish, who is an expert in competition law, had suggested some names to me and I picked up these two young bright people.

"Both have an academic training in competition law and their LLB degrees from India."

"The academic training they have received and its application to practical cases is the real advantage… That's the capacity they are building up and to translate that into the competition law language and fit it into the act is the job they're going to perform," said Dhall.

He added that in the near future he would try to send the associates abroad for practical training.

Mathur said she would visit Linklaters London office next month for formal training in competition law. "I wanted to specialise in competition law since the beginning. There is immense potential for growth in this area," she said.

Dhall Law Chambers has a best friend relationship with Linklaters in the area of competition law.

Dhall explained: "It is a usual best friend relationship; we keep getting cross referrals pertaining to various matters from time to time."

He said that the firm has actively advised clients referred by Linklaters on strategic antitrust matters in India's emerging competition law field.

The majority of the current direct competition work includes reviewing distribution agreements, manufacturing agreements or copyright issues connected with the media sector, he explained, in addition to offering competition law training and compliance advice.

Dhall was a member and the former acting chairman of the Competition Commission of India, having started up his practice in September 2008.

He added that the firm did not just practice competition law but also advised in "other regulatory practices" and on some related issues in sectors such as petroleum, electricity regulation and telecoms.

Dhall Law Chambers now consists of Dhall and four associates.

Linklaters also has a best friends relationship with Talwar Thakore & Associates.

Khaitan & Co and Amarchand Mangaldas started up and boosted their competition law practices respectively in the past month.