Law firms

Mulla & Mulla & Craigie Blunt & Caroe has promoted three solicitors to partner, including the first female partner in its current partnership.

Rashna Khan, Bhavesh V. Panjuani and Homiar Nariman Vakil will be partners with effect from tomorrow (1 January 2010).

All three started their careers as articled clerks with Mulla & Mulla.

Khan and Panjuani joined 15 years ago, with Khan spending four-years at a smaller firm in the middle of her career, and Vakil started his career as a solicitor 25 years ago, they told Legally India.

Commenting on his promotion Vakil (pictured) said: "It's very exciting, it's the fulfilment of a lifetime dream […] after a quarter of a century."

Vakil specialises in conveyancing and litigation and added that he had worked on a large number of historic cases and constitutional challenges in his time.

Panjuani said he specialises in litigation, arbitration, construction projects and contracts work and that the work-flow was expanding for law firm lawyers.

"The legal market practice is very different to what it used to be," he said. "Today there are a lot of quasi-legal issues which lawyers deal with and sometimes even give inputs on commercial decisions."

He added: "Many clients would now run their intended contracts by the lawyers whereas earlier they would take a decision and ask a lawyer to only draft the document."

Khan will be Mulla & Mulla's only female partner in the current partnership, although historically the firm has had other female partners.

Khan practices litigation, tax and some documentation work but she said that she had never thought of herself primarily as a woman in her professional life. "I suppose it's just if you work hard enough, you bring in revenue and you bring in clients that you are eligible for partnership."

All 16 Mulla & Mulla partners including Khan, Panjuani and Vakil are qualified solicitors of the Bombay Incorporated Law Society, explained Mumbai partner Shardul Thacker.

Thacker also added that the firm had an all-equity partnership and that it did not believe in creating salaried partners without equity, voting rights or third party liability.

Only 6 per cent of candidates have passed the most recent Bombay solicitors exams in October.

In May 2009 Amarchand Mangaldas had hired Mulla & Mulla infrastructure partner Tushar Mavani.