Finsec Law Advisors’ only lateral partner Indrajit Mishra and senior associate Tejesh Chitlangi today joined Mumbai firm IC Legal as equity partners to build up the private equity and funds practice.
Mishra, who was a partner and head of Finsec’s private equity practice since he joined the firm in July 2011, will head IC Legal’s private equity and M&A practice.
Having started his career as a company secretary, Mishra joined Thakker & Thakker in 2005 and completed his law degree from Mumbai University’s New Law College the same year. He was at ARA Law for four years prior to joining Finsec.
He said: “We have been working with Mr Bheru [Choudhary, IC’s managing partner,] for the last five to six years. We all have done a number of transactions together [while at] ARA and Finsec, so we had a good rapport and it was a good opportunity to lend our expertise.”
Chitlangi was a senior associate at Finsec specialising in investment funds. After graduating from NLU Jodhpur in 2007 he had joined ARA Law and then Finsec in October 2010. He will also hold equity at IC Legal.
He said that he handled work relating to investment funds, mutual funds, foreign institutional investors (FII), and wealth management at Finsec. Chitlangi added that he would be able to leverage his experience at Finsec with IC Legal’s “good contacts”.
Former Finsec associate Janhavi Seksaria, who left the firm two-and-a-half months ago, joined IC as an associate with Mishra and Chitlangi.
IC Legal now consists of five partners all of whom hold equity in the firm, including the two managing partners Bheru Choudhary and Hemant Shah. Ten other lawyers are currently with the firm.
Choudhary said: “Even though I am a managing partner at the firm there is no concept of a managing partner and we have collective decision making on everything.”
Choudhary focuses on real estate and media laws with clients including actors Akshay Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan, having handled mandates of Star’s gameshow KBC. He said that the firm was looking to expand on the new private equity and funds practices brought in with Mishra and Chitlangi.
Sandeep Parekh, who had set up Finsec in 2010 after having been visiting faculty at IIM Ahmedabad and executive director at the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), said that five professionals remained at Finsec. He commented: “I wish both Indrajit and Tejesh good luck and thank them for their contribution to the firm in its early years. We will continue our focus on the financial sector will move up the value chain and will continue to contribute actively to policy making in financial regulations as we move forward.
“We already advise some of the leading names in the financial world like Goldman Sachs and Citibank, work on complex areas as cross border enforcement including SEC actions and formally advise financial regulators.”
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Yes, Guest, I am a lawyer. Sorry to burst your bubble. While respectfully disagreeing with your assessment, I have seen that being a known name opens doors and gets your work. There are more than enough good lawyers out there who're willing to do anything for the client. But to a large extent, the brand value of the place is what attracts clients. I dont see a Goldman going to an IC Legal, or other similar upstarts. The blue chips remain the blue chips, unless there is a major disruptive event.
Oh.. Mr. Reckon. I guess I know how it feels to be a disgruntled lawyer at a big law firm. However, you should understand that your argument has a basic flaw. If big names like Goldman cannot go to IC legal, how do you see them going to Finsec? Mr. Parekh branded this firm as a startup firm and even till date he believes it is a sort of startup and in nascent stage (before you jump to any further, pls. read the ad posted by FInsec on LI). Even though Mr. Parekh is a fantastic lawyer, you must remember that after SEBI he was teaching in IIM which limited his presence in legal market. Further, his area of specialization is securities law and it was Tejesh and Indrajeet who handled majority of transaction work.
I believe you big law exposure does not allow you to interact much with clients and thats the reason the clients stay with the big names and big law firms and would not come to you if you quit your big law job and start a practice individually. I guess you should relax in you big law position and let others grow, instead of making such comments...
@Reckon: every big thing today was small yesterday.
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