Moily on foreign firms, league tables and law firm movers and shakers in this week's newsletter.

It is hard to establish to what scale Indian law firms have laid off associates during the down-turn.

One thing is clear though: the domestic war for talent has begun to heat up again, especially as foreign firms have lost buying power after a tough year of retrenchments and falling profits.

There cannot be a better time to be reporting legal news from India.

Legally India kicked off two weeks ago with the revival of what could be India's largest cross-border M&A deal ever. AZB and Freshfields pocketed the lead roles and it is understood that one certain firm has all but sewn up the Indian mandate for MTN, although no official appointment has yet been made.