Star start-up splits: Jerome to Poovayya; Roy keeps Alliance; Kumar may join elsewhere

Young start-up Alliances: Doomed?
Young start-up Alliances: Doomed?

Exclusive: Alliance Legal, which was set up in Mumbai 15 months ago by partners and a senior lawyer from AZB & Partners, J Sagar Associates (JSA) and Talwar Thakore Associates (TTA), is breaking up, and co-founder Vishnu Jerome is in advanced talks to start a Mumbai office for Bangalore firm Poovayya & Co.

Jerome, who was a partner at AZB Mumbai until he resigned in June 2011, is set to start an office for Poovayya & Co in Mumbai, according to sources close to the firm. Poovayya & Co currently has offices in Bangalore, Chennai and Delhi.

The firm’s founding and managing partner Sajan Poovayya did not respond to calls or messages seeking comment at the time of going to press.

Co-founding partner Priyanka Roy, who was previously a partner at JSA, will retain and continue running the Alliance Legal brand according to authoritative sources.

Ravi Kumar, who was a managing associate at TTA before becoming the third Alliance co-founding partner, is understood to be leaving the partnership to explore other opportunities, including moving laterally to other firms.

Jerome, Kumar and Roy declined to comment when contacted.

The three founders, who all graduated between 2000 and 2002 from NLSIU Bangalore, set up the firm in September 2011 and had managed to attract a number of capital markets and private equity deals, according to previous reports on Legally India.

It is understood that the full demerger and exit of the partners, as well as which side associates will join, may take several months to finalise.

Earlier this year, young seven-partner start-up law firm PXV Law Partners split into three firms over “differences in vision”.

Legally India reported in August that start-up law firms were making a dent in the market and attracting work, although the transition from lower margin work to being instructed on marquee deals often proves to be difficult.

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