Khaitan & Co Kolkata associate partner Sucharita Basu and principal associates Sanjay Basu and Anshumala Bansal left the firm on 19 September, to start up Aquilaw.

Aquilaw currently caters to clients in the manufacturing, media and banking sector, for corporate, disputes and real estate transactions.

Basu (pictured) commented: “The reason why we took this decision was due to the lack of a full service law firm in Kolkata. [Another prominent law firm] has almost disintegrated, and [the other firms] are either [as good as] non-existent or have only one kind of practice or are family-run. The market in Kolkata is high density so we saw lots of opportunity.”

Basu was promoted to associate partner level in Khaitan’s corporate practice in April 2014, while Basu and Bansal were principal associates in, respectively, the firm’s disputes and real estate practices.

Sucharita Basu and Sanjay Basu are, respectively, Calcutta University 2001 and 1999 alumni. Sucharita Basu joined Khaitan after her LLB in 2001, Sanjay Basu worked in the chambers of senior counsel Anindya Kumar Mitra and then at Luthra & Luthra Delhi before joining Khaitan. Bansal graduated from NUJS Kolkata in 2006 and worked at Paras Kuhad & Associates before joining Khaitan in January 2008.

Aquilaw is operating from a 3,000 sq ft space across the road from Khaitan’s office on Kolkata’s Old Post Office Street. The name “Aquilaw” comes from the Latin word “Aquila”, meaning “eagle”, explained the firm in an email.

Verus Advocates Kolkata associate and 2012 graduate Prantar Basu Chaudhary has joined Aquilaw as a senior associate.

Photo by AJ Batac