Law firms

Khaitan & Co's Mumbai office is moving from the Ballard Estate area to Lower Parel, where it has taken a lease of a large space allowing it to double in size in future.

Former Khaitan & Co partner Gauri Rasgotra has rejoined the firm's Delhi office after working for two years in the US as the head of the George Washington University Law School's India Studies Center.

Luthra & Luthra has closed two project finance deals out of Delhi and Mumbai this week, acting on the Rs 1,497 crores ($325m) Gujarat road development project and the Rs 4,000 crore ($850m) syndicated term loan for Cairn India to develop oil fields.

Legally India research has revealed Amarchand Mangaldas as the top IPO dealmaker of this financial year so far, while Khaitan & Co and Luthra & Luthra are in close contest for the runner-up spot. International and domestic firms are competing in a tightly bunched mid-field of the ranking.

Paras Kuhad & Associates' ex-Mumbai head has started a new firm under the banner Vidhii Partners, along with one partner and three associates from the firm which merged with Hemant Sahai earlier this month.

AZB & Partners is sending four associates for training at Clifford Chance's European training centres as the start of a more organised "knowledge transfer" programme between the best friend firms.

Delhi-based firm Priti Suri & Associates has moved into a new office that is more than twice its previous size, which is the first step in its plans to evolve out of a sole proprietorship model.

For the first time this year, Desai & Diwanji and Khaitan & Co are leading the third quarter Indian M&A rankings both by value and volume of deals, pushing Amarchand Mangaldas two places down mergermarket's value league table compared to three months ago.

A senior associate has rejoined Lall & Sethi Advocates as partner after a two-year stint at Luthra & Luthra.

Amarchand Mangaldas has acted on 70 per cent of qualified institutional placements (QIPs) in the first half of this financial year, with international firms, AZB & Partners, J Sagar Associates (JSA), Luthra & Luthra, S & R Associates and Crawford Bayley mopping up the rest.

The two co-founders of Paras Kuhad & Associates's Mumbai have quit as one is to start a new law firm and the remaining office continues working on last week's merger with Hemant Sahai Associates.

Bangalore headquartered Universal Legal has hired a Luthra & Luthra senior associate as a Delhi partner while the firm prepares to open in Mumbai as a precursor to becoming a fully national firm.

AZB & Partners has promoted its first new partner after its Bangalore merger and vowed to grow its fledgling Chennai and Hyderabad presences after moving into a new office in Chennai.

Hemant Sahai Associates and Paras Kuhad & Associates have merged to create a firm of over 100 lawyers and streamlined office locations, following significant headcount reductions.

Amarchand Mangaldas, AZB & Partners and Luthra & Luthra have benefited the most from the dash to hit the markets by month-end, as 16 companies filed draft initial public offering (IPO) prospectuses in the last two weeks.

Titus & Co has hired two associates and re-hired an associate after completing an LLM degree abroad.