Singhal, who is also the chief executive at the General Insurer’s (Public Sector) Association of India (GIPSA), is not a lawyer and is a 1976 alumnus of the Indian Statistical Institute said that the services of legal professionals in the insurance sector do not match up to the standard of specialisation which the field requires. He said that in joining T&T he will have the satisfaction of knowing that the field is being dealt with the requisite expertise.

“Mr Singhal has been involved with policy making in the insurance sector at the highest level. He has over 35 years of experience in the general insurance sector in India, having worked in leadership positions with several public sector insurers. Mr. Singhal has a rich experience in handling all classes of general insurance including fire, marine, engineering, motor and miscellaneous insurances,” the firm commented in a press release.

T&T managing partner Rohit Tandon commented that law firms across India are currently not handling insurance as a serious vertical and are only catering to existing corporate vertical clients on their additional insurance matters. Independent lawyers or retired officers of the insurance sector are the only ones majorly specialising in this area at the moment, he said.

“With the insurance sector now being opened up more and more by the government and foreign companies being invited to hold stake up to 49 per cent [we saw an opportunity here],” he said.

“[Singhal] has a very versatile experience in the entire field of insurance and we had to persuade him not to seek exension where he was but come and join us.”

Tandon said that Singhal will head six lawyers of the firm focussed on the insurance sector, currently handling around 200 matters none of which are Motor Accident Claims Tribunal cases or consumer matters but are arbitrations relating to insurance.

T&T, which was started in 2014 by former Zeus Law Associates managing partner Rohit Tandon, currently has two partners including Tandon and his son Varun Tandon.