That said, according to an unconfirmed report the Ministry of Finance may give way on service tax at least a little bit, removing the new requirement to pay service tax as soon as it is billed to the client, rather than collected.
In law firms yesterday billable hours and all-nighters were no doubt written off too for the World Cup but some lawyers will also have been keeping an eye on the 1 April date and promotions and other goodies, or lack thereof.
At Talwar Thakore & Associates one new partner got the nod, shoring up the banking and finance team and bringing partner numbers back up to six.
Young and aggressive start-up Vidhii Partners was found looking towards Kolkata with a new partner, in refreshing news for the city.
Over in Hong Kong one former Amarchand partner and now former Paul Hastings associate chose the time to move from private practice to join one of Asia’s largest private equity funds to oversee the legal work in South Asia.
Less refreshing news for the judiciary as the long charge sheet of impropriety came out against Chief Justice Dinakaran (currently residing in picturesque Sikkim).
Also, almost thousands of new lawyers entered the profession last Saturday with the bar exam results – although doubtlessly many were already in for most practical intents and purposes, or are still practising outside of the AIBE ambit.
Perhaps in a bit of a surprise, the pass rate was only 71 per cent: lower than many pundits were expecting for an open book exam that was not rocket science.
And while hall passes for the 1,600 graduates who will have to re-take the Chennai bar exam are now up, the BCI has not yet been able to confirm exactly how many exam papers were actually handed in, so perhaps the eventual fail percentage amongst only those who sat the test will decrease.
For those not yet in law school, good news: the IDIA diversity project is expecting roughly 1,000 less well-off students to take a free preliminary preparation and aptitude test for the CLAT across the country, in collaboration with coaching institute IMS.
For those in law school or with a healthy interest in their alma mater, in the Mooting Premier League (MPL) season 2 sponsored by Allen & Overy, Nalsar has extended its lead significantly but NLSIU Bangalore has woken up from its MPL slumber in time to get funding for the Manfred Lachs Space Moot, at which its rather good at judging by historical record.
Away from the mooting circuit it also appears to be the year for law school creativity. A second novel this year by a law schoolite is out, this time from ICFAI. Maybe it’s time for a Novel Premier League (NPL)?
And finally, Sachin & Co may not be playing but the Delhi T20 law firm cricket tourno is moving into the semis, with the usual suspects represented.
The matches now promise to be riveting as long as the games won’t be held next Wednesday (and managing partners won’t force players to make up the time that will no doubt be lost watching the Pakistan-India semi-finals).
Deals of the week
- Four top Indian, 1 Japanese firm roll out Hero Honda $851m JV exit
- KhaiCo on ‘marquee deal’ EPC divestment to clear way for Welspun JV
- Khaitan, Chitale advise on $19m PE injection into smells company
Blogs of the Week
- IMPACT: Ugly Iguana on a Tiny Island or India i.e Bharat? in The Fourth Monkey's blog
- "Power".....surely above our Rights in PRANAVNUJS's blog
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