Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas equity partner Kalpataru Tripathy has resigned from the firm, according to two authoritative sources.

Kochhar & Co has hired Sarika Raichur as a partner in Delhi focusing on corporate and private equity, merging part of the firm she had started.

According to the allegations in the Bombay high court section 9 petition against former Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) Chennai partner Dorothy Thomas, Thomas “in direct collusion with” Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas instructed associates to “extract confidential files” of CAM’s “in a systematic and pre-planned manner” from 26 September before she and her team had resigned from the firm.

“The acquisition is the biggest foreign acquisition ever in India and Russia’s largest outbound deal. Billionaire brothers Shashi and Ravi Ruia have agreed to sell 98 per cent of Essar Group flagship firm Essar Oil to Russian oil major Rosneft and a consortium of oil trading firm Trafigura with private investment group United Capital Partners for $13 billion, making it the largest foreign direct investment in India.” reported The Hindu and others.

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) had alleged in the Bombay high court application for interim relief in arbitration proceedings that team members of departing Chennai partner Dorothy Thomas had taken boxes of CAM client files from the office.

VC firm DSG Consumer Partners has made a partial exit in food processing industry company Veeba Fine Foods (founded in 1983, making sauces, dips, emulsions and dessert toppings) to Brussels-headquartered Verlinvest Asia, which was created by several families of the Anheuser-Busch InBev empire to make investments in the food and beverage space.

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas has started arbitration proceedings against Chennai partner Dorothy Thomas, who is due to join Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, filing in the Bombay high court yesterday for interim measures.

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has invited the Society of Indian Law Firms (Silf) to help it fine-tune its proposal to the Law Commission, which was called upon by the Supreme Court to take a comprehensive look at the role of the bar councils’ “failure” and “inaction” in regulating the legal profession.

Kirkland & Ellis and Slaughter & May acted on the biggest Indian M&A transactions among 14 foreign law firms that each advised on more than $1bn worth of Indian M&A deals this quarter.

PDS Legal partner Deepak Chopra will join AZB & Partners in Delhi as a partner and the head of its tax litigation practice, according to a press release from the firm.

LexOrbis partner Pooja Dodd has gone independent again, restarting Delhi intellectual property-led boutique firm Dodd & Co, which would focus on clients in the “creative industry”.

Khaitan & Co topped the list of 13 domestic law firms’ M&A mandates by value of deals done with $18.7bn worth of transactions, followed by AZB & Partners which topped the list of deals by value, with 43 transactions worth $15.4bn.

AZB & Partners has re-hired Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas corporate senior consultant Jasmin Karkhanis as a counsel, reported Bar & Bench and we have confirmed.

Prem Mohan, who had graduated in 2007 from NLSIU Bangalore, has been promoted to partner in Kirkland & Ellis London office in the financial services regulatory practice.

“In an attempt to boost capacity and expand its footprint into new markets, Orient Cement Ltd has struck a two-pronged deal with Jaypee Group to purchase a pair of cement businesses at an enterprise value of Rs1,950 crore,” reported Mint.

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) Chennai head and corporate partner Dorothy Thomas and her team are set to be joining Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (SAM), according to authoritative sources.

Dua Associates Chennai partner Aarthi Lakshmi Narayanan has joined Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas as a partner focusing on real estate.

Squire Patton Boggs and Luthra & Luthra advised Manpasand Beverages on its approximately $80m qualified institutions placement.

Clasis Law’s UK-headquartered best friend Clyde & Co has sued the Indian arm of integrated telecom infrastructure company Nu Tek, in the Delhi high court, for non-payment of Rs 2.1 crore ($315055) of the law firm’s dues.

Liberalisation of legal services directly upholds citizens’ constitutional right to the choice of lawyers they want to engage, in Prof NR Madhava Menon’s view.