Law firms

Commerce ministry joint secretary Sudhanshu Pandey told a US-Indian delegation today that the government would seek to pass an amendment to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act this session that would allow foreign lawyers to come to India to act for their clients in arbitrations in order to boost domestic arbitrations.

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (SAM) Mumbai office managing partner Akshay Chudasama is acting for Warburg Pincus, which is buying a Rs 1,800 crore minority stake in Piramal Realty, which was advised by Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas’ Mumbai office.

J Sagar Associates (JSA) funds formation partner Jay Gandhi and his team of five associates will join Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (SAM) in Mumbai under former JSA senior partner and SAM Mumbai Akshay Chudasama.

Khaitan & Co overtook Amarchand Mangaldas in data provider mergermarket’s half-yearly (H1) M&A charts by value, with the first quarter of Amarchand functioning as the split firms of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (SAM). AZB & Partners maintained its deal volume lead which it has claimed for two consecutive years.

Can your accountant also assist you on drafting a joint venture agreement? Or is this work best left to a lawyer to check for compliance with various rules and legislation? And what happens when one company drops a nasty legal notice on the former joint venture partner? Is when things get contentious and litigious the line where only a lawyer can step in and take care of business?

DSK Legal advised Klenzaids Contamination Controls in selling 49 per cent stake to Robert Bosch Investment Nederland which was advised by Khaitan & Co.

DSK Mumbai co-founding partner Anand Desai, managing associate Pragya Dhamija and associate Prachi Garg acted for Klenzaids, which has a turnover around around EUR 6m, reported trade magazine BioSpectrum.

Khaitan Mumbai partners Rabindra Jhunjhunwala and Niren Patel acted for global Bosch Packaging Technology which has a global turnover of EUR 1.1bn.

In the Bosch-Klenzaids joint venture that will employ around 380 staff Klenzaids will contribute its expertise in clean-room and processing technologies and peripheral systems, and Bosch will take care of innovative filling technologies.

AZB & Partners’ private equity (PE) practice again won it the top place in the half-yearly league table of data provider Venture Intelligence, making the firm the half-yearly league leader in this space for the third consecutive year.

Endless jobs? Sacks of money for all? Better working conditions for everyone? Young lawyer Dhruv Balai Paul ponders the implications of the possible entry of foreign law firms to India.

The Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF) will complain to the Bar Council of Delhi in the coming week against PDS Legal, Advaita Legal and other Indian law firms that are best friends with accountancy firms, as a follow-up to its recent complaints in the council against the Big Four consultancies E&Y, KPMG, PwC and Deloitte for their alleged unauthorized practice of law.

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas has hired former Amarchand Mangaldas Delhi principal associate Mekhla Anand as an indirect tax salaried partner in its new Delhi office.

Jeet Sen Gupta, who left Economic Laws Practice (ELP) in April, has joined Juris Corp as its eighth partner, managing partner H Jayesh told Bar & Bench, saying: “As a firm, we are implementing growth drivers and as part of that strategy, Jeet has joined us and will help us take the firm to the next level.”

Juris Corp had promoted two to partner in March, following a string of senior and junior departures.

We have reached out to ELP managing partner Rohan Shah for comment.

Aijt Mishra, who had joined Wragge & Co as a close best friend focusing on Indian law, has joined Penningtons Manches as its London-based India group co-head.

Desai & Diwanji advised British media conglomerate Daily Mail & General Trust’s investment arm DMG Information on its Rs 12.7 crore ($2m) infusion in Mumbai-based, non-brokerage, real estate company Liases Foras which was advised by DM Harish & Co.

D&D partner Siddharth Mody, senior associates Ashraf Lala and Rumma Panchmatia and associate Kumar Yashaswi acted for DMG Information.

DMH partner Anil Harish and associate Sohini Banerjee acted for Liases Foras.

DMG Information made its first strategic investment in May, in Chinese property information company Funcent, followed by investment of $3m in Propstack, reported Business Standard.

Last month Legally India reported that Desai & Diwanji had acted for DMG on its Rs 19 crore investment in commercial real estate company Propstack Services.