Suman Khaitan's partnership firm Khaitan & Partners has replaced its ex-Kolkata office head Niloy Pyne who joined Amarchand Mangaldas last month, by hiring independent practitioner and former Amarchand senior associate Niladri Bhattacharjee as a partner to manage Kolkata.

Bhattacharjee (pictured) took charge of Khaitan & Partners' Kolkata office on 15 June following the departure of Pyne who took up Amarchand partnership in the first week of June replacing Krishnava Dutt who set up Argus Partners in 2009.

Bhattacharya had started his career with senior advocate M L Lahoti in the Supreme Court of India, after which he worked as an associate with Fox Mandal in Kolkata from 2002-2005.

He was then a senior associate with Amarchand Mangaldas until 2008, from where he moved on to establish an independent practice called N H Law Offices in Lucknow and Delhi, which was his last role before now joining Khaitan & Partners.

Bhattacharjee said that Kolkata presented a lot of opportunities with great potential for growth in various sectors, but the challenge had always been to provide quality legal services at reasonable fee structures.

The areas on which he would initially focus included real estate, corporate advisory, banking and finance and alternate dispute resolution (ADR).

Bhattacharjee said that exploring the opportunities and increasing the client base in India's North-Eastern territories using Kolkata as a gateway was another priority.

Khaitan & Partners plans to replenish its Kolkata office with more advocates at all levels and the hiring process has already started. Its current Kolkata strength is six associates and ten staff.

Khaitan & Partners is now a six-partner subsidiary firm of sole proprietorship Suman Khaitan & Co, with a gradual rebranding taking place towards the Khaitan & Partners name.