Law firms

Mergermarket Q1 M&A value leader AZB & Partners slipped to seventh spot in 2014’s half-yearly rankings, while Q1 ninth-ranked Amarchand made up the lag to top spot.

HSA Advocates has hired Abeezar Faizullabhoy as the firm's 14th partner, according to a press release from the firm.

Faizullabhoy was an equity partner at J Sagar Associates (JSA) until 2013, when he left to join Chennai-based ultra-mega power project Aditya Resources as CEO.

HSA has offices in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata and a "correspondent relationship in Bangalore", according to the statement.

Herbert Smith Freehills India practice chairman Chris Parsons will be walking 1260 km from the Gateway of India in Mumbai to Bangalore in 2015.

Majmudar & Partner senior associates Tejus Cherian and Vinod Kamath left the firm in April to start up corporate law firm CK Juris in Bangalore in June.

ALG India Law Offices litigation partner Jayant Kumar has joined Win Law Group – the over two months old IP and media law start-up of former MSD Pharma legal head Jaspreet Chandhok. Kumar will head Win’s IP practice.

The NLU Jodhpur and George Washington University law school alum focussed on IP litigation and enforcement at ALG which he had joined in 2009.

ALG did not respond to an email seeking comment. Kumar was not reachable for comment by phone at the time of going to press.

Chandhok had started Win on 1 April with a team of 10 lawyers including himself and two other partners, and offices in Mumbai and Delhi.

BMR Legal has continued advising online ticketing website BookMyShow in its latest fundraising round of Rs 150 crore by existing venture capital investors SAIF Partners and Accel Partners, who have continued relying on Indus Law.

Indian law firms have taken a deeper interest in policy formulation in the last five years than they have before, however they are wary in a big way of being seen as “lobbyists”.

BMR Legal has opened an office in Bangalore with two partners from Themis Associates and their six-member team of lawyers.