Kochhar & Co has hired four lawyers laterally as partners in Delhi and Mumbai, including from Amarchand Mangaldas, Dua Associates and Mulla & Mulla.

Neeraj Grover from Zeus IP, Nishant Menon from Dua Associates, Niti Paul from Amarchand, and Nilesh Parekh from Mulla have joined Kochhar in the last two months.

Neeraj Grover has joined Kochhar’s Delhi office as partner and head of intellectual property (IP) litigation practice. He was previously of counsel at Zeus IP from 2004 contemporaneously with his role as well as managing partner of Grover & Associates from 2002, where he also litigated criminal, commercial, cyber and other cases.

He had begun his career at Amarjit & Associates after graduating from Delhi University in 1999.

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ormer Dua Associates partner Nishant Menon has joined Kochhar in Delhi as a litigation partner, having previously worked as an independent acdvocate since his admission to the bar in 1998. He holds a BCom and LLB from Delhi University and specialises in litigation in the Supreme Court, high courts, various tribunals and arbitrations in civil and commercial disputes.

Dua was not reachable for comment at the time of going to press.

Former Amarchand principal associate Niti Paul, whose husband Harry Chawla left Amarchand in December to head up Kochhar’s Mumbai office, has also become a partner in Kochhar’s Delhi M&A team last month. Paul graduated from Delhi University in 1999, having joined Amarchand in 2008 from Chawla’s firm Chawla & Co.

Ex-Mulla & Mulla & Craigie Blunt & Caroe senior associate Nilesh Parekh has been hired as a litigation partner in Kochhar’s Mumbai office. The 1994 GLC Mumbai graduate has over 18 years of litigation experience, according to a press release from Kochhar, with a particular focus on shipping litigation.

Mulla partner Shardul Thacker commented that he wished Parekh all success in his career, and health and happiness in life.