Ahmedabad

Six-year old Jaipur-based firm Capstone Legal, that was started up by NLSIU Bangalore 2012 alumnus Ashish K Singh fresh out of law school with his brother Vagish K Singh, who was in his fourth year at NLSIU at the time, has opened its second office, expanding to Ahmedabad.

Essar Steel India has filed a Rs 250 crore defamation suit in the Ahmedabad city civil court against Delhi-headquartered magazine Caravan, its publisher Delhi Press, several of its editors and staff reporter Krishn Kaushik.

Bangalore-headquartered firm Universal Legal, which also has offices in Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi and Chandigarh, has opened up in Ahmedabad under partner in charge Aayush Modi.

J Sagar Associates (JSA) has opened its seventh office in Ahmedabad on 1 January after hiring Bijal Chhatrapati from Singhi & Co as an equity partner to head up the office.

Senior partner Berjis Desai said in a press release: “For a few years, we had actively considered establishing our offices at Chennai and Ahmedabad these being cities where significant national law firms have not been present. Chennai office commenced operations in April 2014 and we are truly excited to open in Ahmedabad, in a State which has become a beacon for the economic development of the country.”

Chhatrapati focuses on dispute resolution, M&A and corporate commercial work and is a qualified Bombay solicitor, and commented in the release: “I am proud to be a part of a national law firm which is ahead of the fundamental changes that occur in a market. I have always admired JSA’s commitment to building a sharing, merit-based, empowering, and nurturing institution focussed on client servicing.”

JSA has six other offices in Bangalore, Chennai, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi, with over 340 lawyers and 80 Partners, according to the release.

The only other of the country’s six largest firms - the Big Six - with an office in Ahmedabad is Amarchand Mangaldas.

Exclusive: King Stubb & Kasiva (KSK) has launched a full-fledged Bangalore office on 1 July as it is aiming to open in Ahmedabad by this time next year.

Amarchand Mangaldas has launched its Ahmedabad practice, inaugurating its Prahladnagar office today, relocating corporate partner Pankaj Agarwal full-time and Delhi litigation head Tejas Karia to start a dispute resolution practice part-time.

Exclusive: Amarchand Mangaldas will launch in Chennai by March with Kochhar & Co Chennai head Dorothy Thomas, followed by re-opening in Ahmedabad with a Pune office pegged for the latter end of this year.