AZB & Partners Mumbai-based partner and competition practice co-head Nisha Kaur Uberoi is likely to be joining Trilegal as an equity partner and to head its competition practice.
Trilegal’s partnership vote to admit her to its all-equity quasi-lockstep partnership is understood to currently be taking place.
Update 14:51: A Trilegal partner has confirmed that the vote to admit Uberoi is underway.
AZB Mumbai managing partner Zia Mody commented by phone: “We wish her all the very best.”
Uberoi, who is a 2002 NLSIU Bangalore graduate, will kickstart Trilegal’s competition practice, which she will be heading.
Trilegal Mumbai corporate partner Amit Tambe had taken over as head of competition in 2013, after erstwhile competition head Rahul Singh had left for a PhD at Oxford. In 2016, the firm hired J Sagar Associates (JSA) principal associate Gautam Shahi has counsel in the competition practice.
Uberoi had begun her career in 2002 at Amarchand Mangaldas as it then was, followed by an LLM in 2005 from the National University of Singapore, after which she joined Singaporean firm Rajah & Tann. In 2008 she moved to UK-international firm Ashurst, joining Amarchand in 2008, making partner in 2012.
She had left Amarchand nearly exactly one year ago to the day to join AZB (she was billed at the time by AZB as having a 51% market share of merger control clearances), to co-head its competition practice in Mumbai (alongside Delhi-based competition head and Economic Laws Practice (ELP) lateral hire Samir Gandhi).
She joined shortly after AZB had poached Cyril Amarchand corporate partner Ashwath Rau and several other partners.
Since joining AZB, Uberoi had acted for Ambuja Cement and Lafarge India on the alleged Rs 6,700 crore cartellisation case, technology and taxi company Ola on an alleged abuse of dominance complaint, as well as numerous merger control cases, such as Idea and Vodafone’s $22bn, UltraTech-Jaypee Rs 16,000 crore merger, and LafargeHolcim’s $44bn merger.
We have reached out for comment to Trilegal and Uberoi.
Update 13:19: AZB has sent out a press release, with Mody further commenting by email:
Nisha Uberoi has just informed us that she would like to move on from AZB and will be joining Trilegal shortly. Her moving on so quickly is unfortunate. The path forward for the 3 partner AZB competition team of Samir Gandhi, Nisha and Rahul Rai was personally very exciting for me.
However, Ajay, Bahram and I wish Nisha all the very very best. She is an excellent lawyer with great work ethic. I look forward to watching her grow.
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Leave the poaching decisions to the managing/equity partners and give your bird brain a rest.
First Shardul, then Cyril and now Zia, ab kisko dagah dena ka iraada he.
CAM- Check
AZB- Check
Trilegal- Check
Wonder what's next?
Undeniably, AZB had gone for star hires, but unfortunately, retention has become an issue. Law firm market is volatile, and entry of foreign firms would test loyalties big time.
Cyril sends regards.
Kian - I note that you deleted that comment on Nisha hiring daughter(s) of senior CCI member(s) in her team. If that comment was deleted, then maybe you should delete Speed Dial's comment too. Frankly, this is public knowledge (the thing about hiring daughter of CCI official) and given the clear case of conflict of interest (at least of the official concerned) there is no reason why it should not be raised at a public forum. Expand your horizon Kian - BCI should not be the only target for expose.
www.mydigitalfc.com/news/cci-charges-smtb-violating-competition-norms-908
www.mydigitalfc.com/news/cci-charges-smtb-violating-competition-norms-908
Women like Nisha break glass ceilings. Great first woman partner hire for Trilegal's Mumbai office.
So:
1. The blue skies that Zia mentioned in her "welcome remarks" clearly referred to the Nisha- Ashwath "alliance" and the Nisha- Samir battle, which clearly Samir won. Between AZB Mumbai and AZB Delhi, which operate as separate firms, Delhi wins!
2. This is probably the beginning of more "Erstwhile CAM stars" who Ashwath took along.
3.[...]
4. Holcim has another choice to make - maybe stay with Samir for its merger filing work. Or move along to Nisha!!! Another decision to make for them.
[...]
While not many will understand all of what is written, the legal community is a small circle and there's always someone around the corner to explain in great detail (wink wink)...
Holcim had/has SAM as it'a india lawyer's, and had Nisha as well.
Lafarge replaced Samir with Dhall. Then they got sold to Birla, which is with CAM?
#dilemmaisredundant
#moveonfolks
#wishnishathebest
Minion
But I wish her the best. She is a good lawyer. I had worked with her and gauri. They both were phenomenal. Is gauri also moving with her?
On a larger note, this signals a big pivot for Trilegal who have now clearly bought into the buy laterals strategy. Wonder what the home grown talent feels when the firm goes shopping across all practice areas practically to build profile - first private equity, then capital markets and now competition law. So much for the claim of being different to the other big Indian law firms.
Nisha is also the CCI ICN NGA alongwith Shweta Shroff of SAM. Shows which lawyers CCI values.
Most Non family equity partnerships have not gained scale yet. Trilegal is an exception. Trilegals status as a Tier 1 is not questionable at all and it will continue to be an attractive platform for the next generation. Ravi Bandhkavi, Bhakta and now Nisha are looking 10 years ahead and not at the tier system based on historical achievements.
Abh to Pani Pani Pani!!!
Your argument presupposes that in the months before someone is considering leaving a job, they have a moral obligation to suddenly change their behaviour, by not going to conferences they went to previously (or theoretically, not take their bonus payments, or not use taxis paid for by the firm, or not accept a birthday gift from the managing partner?).
Point is, people change jobs all the time, and that's normal. Similarly, it is normal for many partners to go to conferences, etc, in some cases many times a year. The benefit in going to a conference presumably accrues to both individual and the firm, and the presence of a partner at a conference (even if they later leave) is valuable to a firm in part. So why should such engagements be cancelled, just because a person is considering moving on or exploring other options?
Say, for argument's sake, you are considering getting a job with another firm, and your current firm is considering sending you on a conference (or giving you some other perk, such as a bonus, free taxis, an offsite retreat, a corner office, a promotion someone else could have gotten, etc, which is where your slippery slope leads).
Your argument is that you must lie to your current firm and make up some excuse so that you don't end up going to this conference (or refuse some other 'perk')?
At the end of the day, leaving a firm or getting poached by another firm by definition involves a small amount of deception in nearly every case, though it is 100% within their prerogative. But if you are expecting those leaving to then keep to some arbitrary standard of avoiding conferences, is ridiculous and sounds somewhat motivated in this case.
Please separate bonus from BD trips, bonus is acknowledgement for work done.
I think the problem is not with, say, going on a firm retreat before you quit, but rather going on a BD trip. If you're doing BD when you're going to move shop in a week, I'm going to guess you're effectively promoting the new firm, on the old firm's money. I can see what that could be a problem
I think people moving on and developing personal brands is simply a risk of doing business as a professional services firm. And until you have signed on the dotted line with another firm and given notice at your existing firm, realistically there is no other option than keeping it business as usual.
It may be another matter if you're going to conferences and already overtly poaching clients before you've left (which could be a possible breach of contract), but as far as I'm aware, in this case, the move was a pretty closely held secret so it wouldn't have come up at conferences.
In the arguments given here, I simply don't see any realistic alternative, with it being possible to explain the main thrust of objections with a simple: "It is quite complicated as a partner to move jobs."
- Zia is very mature unlike a CSS or the rest; and
- she damn right thinks Nisha is a good lawyer and wished her the best
I am no one to opinion on whether Trilegel is a good fit or not, that's up to Nisha choice. But so glad to see two women stand out from the crowd of male domination in our profession. I would love to see more women like these two.
Also pls Stop with the negativity and for a change don't say anything nasty just for sake of commenting!
You all are doing a major disservice to the industry by not commending the rise of an iconoclastic firm, not to forget the youngest firm of the lot, which was conceived not only as a more professional alternative to the family /lala run firms, but as a belief that first generation lawyers can make it big in the country.
The Status quo is changing. More power to you Trilegal. Victory of professionalism.
Down with lalas.
[a]Myth No. 1 - that either Samir or Nisha or Rahul Rai are sub-standard lawyers in any way
All three are very fine lawyers, albeit with different styles. Samir is a true gentleman of the old school who is loved by foreign law firms as well as his clients and peers. Nisha is very driven and hard working, with a great rapport especially with the Japanese. Rahul Rai is one of the few competition partners in India who can lay claim to a marquee international trade practice as well.
Myth No. 2 - Samir didn't like Nisha so she went her separate ways
[...] That is not necessarily a failing and hasn't stopped her from building a great practice. Her move to Trilegal is more of a move to a one-partner setup, than any hostility shown by Samir. As said above, Samir is by nature very accommodating and anyone who alleges that he made life difficult for Nisha clearly doesn't know Samir - or Nisha for that matter!.
[c] Myth No. 3 - Nisha had "51% market share" and without her AZB competition is sunk
This number, even if true (which it isn't!) doesn't prove anything. In CCI's first year of merger assessments, Shuva Mandal (now GC of Tata Sons, and definitely not a competition lawyer) held a 60+% market share. So what does this prove - absolutely nothing!
Samir has a very good team in Delhi, and of course, Rahul Rai in Bombay. So his practice will definitely not be affected by Nisha's departure - it will continue like it did in the pre-Nisha days.
[d] Myth No. 4 - Jumping ship within a year means something is wrong
Come on guys, this doesn't need any thinking through! there is nothing wrong with leaving for new and better opportunities. Nobody is tied in to anything. All good thoughts to Nisha to keep rocking!
[e] Myth No. 5. - Nisha decimated the CAM competition practice when she left for AZB
Nisha brought a single SA and a few junior associates to AZB. Most of her senior people stayed behind, including her sole PA Bharat Budholia who is a partner now. With the entry of Anshuman Sakle, its a young team with formidable talent. CAM competition partner Rahul Goel recently won a landmark SC case on relevant turnover.
[f] Myth No. 6 - Google fired Samir to go to ELP
Google is very much with AZB. AZB and ELP jointly represent Google.
This myth is the reason why I say most of the people commenting are not competition lawyers. If they were, they would know that Google is famous for changing its antitrust lawyers regularly and sometimes for no reason, across the world. This hasn't happened in India.
[g] Myth No. 7 - having CCI members or advisors on speed-dial is something wrong
Grow up chaps! in any regulatory practice, the bar is very familiar with the regulator. Not only Samir and Nisha, all other competition partners in India have these contacts with CCI officials. As to a senior officials daughter working with Nisha, if this were a problem, no child of a judge would ever be able to practice. There are clear rules on conflict and as long as they are followed, I don't know why anyone has a problem.
[h] Myth No. 8 - Samir and Rahul were part of the first CCI misrepresentation case so how dare they allege connections
First, I don't see these two alleging any 'connections' between anyone. Second, if the person making this allegation knew anything about the SMTB case, he or she would know that it was the most frivolous case ever and if it had been appealed, the COMPAT would have like come down on the CCI like a ton of bricks. One should note that even after blowing a lot of smoke, the CCI penalty was a big zero!
Myth No. 9 - Former CCI Chairman Ashok Chawla's son works in AZB Delhi so that must mean something!
Perhaps! If he was a competition lawyer... which he isn't!. Ashok Chawla was part of CAM's leadership committee while Nisha was still working at CAM so if the dad being there didn't help Nisha, I doubt the son being at AZB will help Samir.
[j] Myth No. 10 - Zia Mody has been stung badly by this move
Those who say this perhaps don't know Zia Mody. There was a time when several of her top partners, including Shuva Mandal left all at once. Many predicted the downfall of AZB even then - and have been left eating crow!
If you think Ashwini Chawla being in AZB Delhi helped Samir, you clearly don't know Mr. Chawla, hence proving you are not a competition lawyer.
Somya indeed moved as a PA - I admit that was a mistake on my part, although she wasn't PA for very long.
Lafarge Holcim fired both SAM and AZB, and went to CAM. Then moved back to AZB with Nisha. Google is still with AZB at last count, although they may go elsewhere later (which is their right, don't you think?). Irrespective of this, Samir Gandhi (like Nisha) is an extremely competent antitrust lawyer. Just see the latest Chambers & Partners rankings.
If one has the time to make statements here, then is too far removed from numbers and law firm inner circles to know anything beyond his/her own salary!!
Do you remember the famous quote from Guru (Dhirubhai movie)? If not, it is - Jab log tumhare khilaaf bolne lage ... samajh lo tarakki kar rahe ho.
Good luck!
Akshay I agree maybe in a different bracket due to his lineage and connections. Though I don't have an idea on his billings.
So if you were to divide 1.3 lakhs per hour between 20 fee-earners, say, you'd end up at a much more reasonable average billing rate of Rs 8,000 per hour per fee-earner... :)
Jao gate pe khade raho..
Indeed, there are many good arguments not to take the start-up risk, no matter how good your book is (or not to take it at this stage of a career).
And its clear you are not from MPO as you dont know how much his billing or you dont work diligently in MPO office and frequent your visits to the coffee shop..
Best of luck, work well...
I hear the top floor ofAZB House is buzzing about the fact that today is Nisha and team's last day. Zia must really like her for such an easy transition.
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