Law firms

After national M&A head Shuva Mandal is set to join Tata Sons as group general counsel (GC) tomorrow (15 July), Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas has appointed partner Raghubir Menon into the regional M&A head role.

Service tax law firm JK Mittal & Co's founder JK Mittal won an order in the Delhi high court exempting lawyers from government action in case of non-observance of the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act 2017, reported News18.

“In a major setback to the US- based fast food chain McDonald's in India, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) today restored its estranged partner Vikram Bakshi as the Managing Director of Connaught Plaza Restaurant Ltd. The tribunal has said the meeting of Connaught Plaza Restaurants Ltd (CPRL) of August 6, 2013 in which Bakshi was removed as MD of the company was illegal, unjust and malafide,” reported the PTI.

P&C Legal, the Mumbai-based close friend alliance firm of Bangalore’s Poovayya & Co, has rebranded to become Jerome Merchant + Partners.

"GMR Goa International Airports Limited (GGIAL), subsdiary of GMR Airports has today, successfully executed a debt facility arrangement for the development of the greenfield project at Mopa in north Goa by signing a common loan agreement with Axis Bank. The bank will provide the company with Rs 1330 crore," reported the Economic Times. 

Karanjawala & Co added the founding partner Nishant Nigam and partner Anusuya Nigam of Delhi-based start up law firm Tryaksha Legal, as principal associates in its disputes and intellectual property (IP) practices.

Chief Justice of India (CJI) JS Khehar, as probably the first sitting CJI having been reported to do so, as far as we are aware, said at a function on Saturday (8 July) that legal market liberalisation should take place.

"After fighting for over three decades for a share in ancestral properties, three branches of the Singhania family told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that they had amicably settled the dispute by honouring and implementing the decision of the arbitrator who had in 2008 divided the assets in three parts. 

The Vodafone-Idea mega-merger has gifted five Indian law firms a $10bn+ deal values in the first half of 2017 in league tables, according to data collated by analytics firm mergermarket.

"The initial public offer (IPO) of Eris Lifesciences was subscribed 3.27 times on the last day of the public offer and book running lead managers to the offer are Axis Capital, Citigroup Global Markets India and Credit Suisse Securities (India)," reported Economic Times.

"Online tutoring firm BYJU’s has announced the acquisition of TutorVista and Edurite from Pearson. It said these acquisitions will help it expand in newer markets as well as create a diverse product portfolio," reported Your Story.

“A Mumbai magistrate’s court on Tuesday admitted a Rs 500 crore criminal defamation suit, filed by R Venkataramanan, a trustee at Tata Trusts, against ousted Tata Sons Ltd chairman Cyrus Mistry and his family investment firms. Venkataramanan filed the defamation complaint in his personal capacity on 7 June through the law firm MZM Legal, citing allegations that Mistry made against him in an email he wrote to Tata Sons directors and Tata Trusts trustees on 25 October. The allegations pertained to some transactions at AirAsia India, Tata Sons’ joint venture with AirAsia Bhd,” reported Mint.

Economic Laws Practice (ELP) Delhi tax litigation partner Alok Yadav left the firm to go independent on 30 June, over two years after having joined it.

Crawford Bayley associate partner Vinayak Vengurlekar left the firm on 31 May. GLC Mumbai alumnus Vengurlekar was promoted to associate partner at the firm in 2011 and specialised in litigation. Crawford Bayley partner Sanjay Buch said: “He has resigned on personal grounds and may be starting his Counsel Practice considering he was assisting the firm in its litigation matters.” Vengurlekar was not reachable for comment at the time of going to press.

Litigation specialists Karanjawala & Co has promoted 10 senior associate to principal associate level, raising the total principal associate ranks at the firm to 11.

LexOrbis added intellectual property (IP) strategist CR Jacob in Bangalore, along with Jacob’s team of 4 patent attorneys at his IP advisory firm IP Astra.