Law firms

Vaish Associates has opened up a Bangalore office, hiring an ex-Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer and lawyer to help it grow to 24 lawyers within a year in the city.

Environmental law specialist and Trust Legal founding partner Sudhir Mishra has joined FoxMandal Little (FML) Delhi as a consultant to expand the firm's environmental law practice.

Jyoti Sagar Associates (JSA) partner Nishit Dhruva and two of his team have left after 18 months with the firm, restarting his former litigation and conveyancing practice with plans to turn full-service.

Argus Partners and Nishith Desai Associates have advised on the Rs 200 crore ($43m) sale of Ravin Cables to an Italian cable manufacturer, while ALMT Legal has scored its first mandate for a Reliance fund, which was one of Ravin's shareholders.

Delhi start-up Axon Partners has landed a role next to Crawford Bayley and Linklaters on Jaiprakash Power Venture's surprise $200m (Rs 920 crore) convertible bond issue.

Mumbai boutique firm Sand Hill Counsel and the Bangalore offices of Induslaw Advocates and Nishith Desai & Associates (NDA) have assisted IT customer support services provider iYogi in raising $15m of venture capital (VC) funding to expand its team of global tech experts.

Crawford Bayley has picked up the latest Government disinvestment mandate for India's single largest iron ore producer and exporter National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), following Amarchand Mangaldas, Fox Mandal Little and Luthra & Luthra bagging the three other disinvestments of the past four months.

Ex-FoxMandal Little start-up boutique IP Gurus is moving to a larger office and has hired the former in-house senior counsel of luxury goods group Richemont and an associate in Geneva.

Phoenix Legal has acted on a Rs 308m ($6.5m) microfinance securitisation of 42,000 micro-loans for IFMR Capital.

Khaitan & Co and Wadhwa Group's in-house counsel have closed Mumbai's largest land deal of the year, in the 18.18-acre land purchase in the eastern suburbs of Mumbai from Hindustan Composites (HCL) for Rs 571 crore ($125m).

Wadia Ghandy Mumbai and Amarchand Mangaldas Delhi have helped GTL Infrastructure in acquiring Aircel's telecom tower business in an all-cash deal valued at Rs 8,400 crore ($1.84bn).

J Sagar Associates (JSA) has engaged the former chairman of the Customs and Central Excise Settlement Commission Jogendra Singh as an indirect tax senior adviser, making it the second senior expansion of JSA's tax practice in two months.

Wadia Ghandy won the Mumbai ELP Masters Cricket Cup 2010 yesterday in a reversal of last year's final against Economic Laws Practice's (ELP) powerful batting line-up.

A final-year NUJS Kolkata student has set up and is running a legal process outsourcing (LPO) firm of seven lawyers.

Hariani & Co has moved into a new office almost twice the previous size in Mumbai offering, after one of its partners relocated from Bangalore.