Exclusive: Delhi litigation firm Karanjawala & Co has promoted its first partner in around seven years, with Meghna Mishra joining the partnership to head the Delhi high court practice after 11 years with the firm.

Mishra, who has worked as a lawyer for 13 years, takes the partner count of the 60-lawyer law firm to six, including the two founding partners Raian Karanjawala and his wife Manik Karanjawala, and three partners heading three Supreme Court teams.

She said: “When I joined [Karanjawala & Co] there were only 12 lawyers and we had a lot of matters and a lot of work to do. We were an extremely busy set of lawyers.

“We are now 60, and we are busy now too, but now it is a different ballgame. Initially we were solicitors with work coming in indirectly from Bombay law firms, whereas now we have a direct relationship with clients there.”

Mishra graduated from Delhi University’s law faculty in 1999 and joined intellectual property rights (IPR) law firm K & S Partners, from where she moved to Karanjawala & Co two years later.

There she initially worked in Supreme Court matters, then added some Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) and Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices (MRTP) matters to her profile.

For the last six years at the 29-year-old firm, she has been primarily handling Delhi high court matters, including matrimonial and property disputes, and work related to commercial transactions, while also focussing on her special interest IPR.

Her clients include a significant portion of media such as the Star group TV channels and the radio station Radiocity, she told Legally India.

Founding partner Karanjawala commented: “[Her promotion] was sort of in the making for some years now, as Meghna was growing into it. Ours is not a firm focussing a lot on making partnerships but there is a thought process in place, to see and expand.

“She was taking charge, taking additional responsibilities. Our growth is always incremental.”

Karanjawala added that the firm, which caters to litigation all over India in all types of forums, prefers to grow organically even though it was also open to the idea of lateral hires.