ALMT-Clydes best friendship splits partnership into two firms

Wednesday, 27 April 2011 By Legally India Law firms

Breaking exclusive: ALMT Legal has ended its best friendship with Clyde & Co as it is parting ways with five partners across Mumbai, London and Delhi who will create new start-up firm Clasis Law with a partner joining from the international firm.

ALMT partner Aliff Fazelbhoy said in a statement: “Given the views of the majority of the ALMT partners, we felt it best to help facilitate this separation so both groups can focus on their different objectives.

“Whilst we are sad to lose some of our friends as partners we believe that this separation is in the best interest of all. We wish Clasis Law every success.”

ALMT will remain with 12 of its partners: Fazelbhoy, Ananjan Mitter, Sameer Tapia, SR Arun, Prashant Popat, Hitesh Jain, Statira Ranina, Dhanya Menon, Ryna Karani, Arvind Kamath, Rakesh Prabhu and Gautam Bhatikar.

Clyde & Co Dubai partner Abhimanyu Jalan will be joining Clasis Law as a partner, alongside Mumbai India Law Services lateral hire and partner Ishtiaq Ali, Mumbai partner Renu Parekh and of counsel Damodar Rao, with September 2010 Luthra & Luthra lateral hire Vineet Aneja in Delhi, and London partners Sakate Khaitan and Shalini Agarwal.

Clasis will officially remain the Indian best-friend relationship firm of Clyde & Co, which was announced in June 2009.

At the time ALMT and Clyde stated in a joint press release: “Local regulations in India do not currently permit a merger with an international firm but the two firms will look to merge once it becomes legally permissible.”

Clasis partner Khaitan said in a statement: “We at Clasis Law look forward to the exciting new challenge of building a genuinely international Indian law firm which can service our clients in a wide range of markets.”

The new firm will be set up with effect from 1 April 2011.

It is understood that ALMT may continue maintaining a presence in Delhi and London in future.

ALMT partners declined to comment further.

In January of this year AZB & Partners ended its best friendship with UK magic circle firm Clifford Chance after two years.

Click here to read about the reasons behind the split and how ALMT will rebuild.

Comments

A 27 Apr 2011, 11:35

+1 -8

It is sad that international law firms try to rule over domestic law firms. Given this break-up, I think time is not ripe for international law firms to start business directly.

Anyway, is clasis part of clyde now or what is the arrangement between them?

ALMT fan 27 Apr 2011, 11:36

+4 -3

Good luck to ALMT, its best to shed the woes!!!

Zam 27 Apr 2011, 11:55

+6 -4

Clasis Law. Thumbs up!

ALMT FAN 27 Apr 2011, 12:54

+0 -7

Whatever we do, we must remember our aim at evry moment . If you dream to fly with eagles, don't waste time In swimming with ducks.

Abhi Fan 27 Apr 2011, 13:11

+3 -0

philosophy teacher?

aarti 27 Apr 2011, 12:37

why would equity partners split? they have to build their own clients and get their profit share?

unless they are not having clients and encroaching on share of other partners!!!

but reason for split of quite old partners is not clear, though the new lateral hires seems to enjoy firm hopping!!!

ALMT well wisher 27 Apr 2011, 18:19

+0 -1

we wish and pray that the ALMT partner group should not further get divided for the sake of sharing the profit without contribution.

aim 28 Apr 2011, 07:46

+1 -0

its already done

Abhi Fan 27 Apr 2011, 12:41

+3 -3

It will be good to have Abhi back in India. He is a force of nature and will shake up the scene.

abc 27 Apr 2011, 12:48

+2 -5

[quote name="Abhi Fan"]It will be good to have Abhi back in India. He is a force of nature and will shake up the scene.[/quote]
never heard of him before

Abhi Fan 27 Apr 2011, 13:03

+4 -2

but you will soon be hearing a lot of him

nbnb 27 Apr 2011, 17:50

[quote name="abc"][quote name="Abhi Fan"]It will be good to have Abhi back in India. He is a force of nature and will shake up the scene.[/quote]
never heard of him before[/quote

All i can say is, Wait and Watch!

vivk 27 Apr 2011, 12:49

+0 -5

all an eye wash.... coz any ways the original almt guys sticking on to classis (clyde baby) operate out of their london office. the other two are lateral hires to operate as puisne here in india to actively work in expand clyde's contacts.

almt will always be under control of clyde and no will be questioning its relation with clyde. (coz anyways they will merge upon change in govt. policy towards foreign law firms)

smart move both clyde and almt.

both almt and clyde

Wot ever 27 Apr 2011, 13:00

+3 -4

Long expected and overdue, no surprises there. Good move for almt but for clyde/clasis remains to be seen...

dfbfdgb 27 Apr 2011, 13:29

+0 -0

ok so whats the deal.. are foreign firms snapping ties bcoz there is no hope of liberalisation, or bcoz they think there will be liberalisation and will go it alone?

Aim 27 Apr 2011, 17:32

+4 -1

ah, i think its a very good move by Clasis law. As everyone know that CLYDE and Co is one of the best law firm in the world and their expertise combined with the talent we have in india will surely take them long way. And talking about liberalisation, we all know it will happen sooner or later.

abc 28 Apr 2011, 07:41

+1 -2

clyde is not the magic circle firm

its basically into insurance and transport

aim 29 Apr 2011, 20:51

hahaha. when did i say its magical! and i know better than you what its into.

uzi 27 Apr 2011, 17:46

+2 -0

I am myself a law student and i think no one can ever excel with isolation. Its time we forget about family-oriented law firms and aim at professionally managed global law firms.

lok 27 Apr 2011, 18:12

c'mon government policies will change. Its a good move by Clyde and classis. ALMT legal is also a very well known firm, but i think if govt. policies change ALMT legal too will collaborate with some international firm. No scope for growth otherwise. cheers.

Jidesh 28 Apr 2011, 06:08

I don't approve of this imported concept of best friendship. It is very immature for Indian firms to think of partnering with international firms especially when there is no level playing field. We have to be conservative in our approach and aggressive in our quality and strength. Good look to Sameer and Sakate, who are both good friends.

concerned lawyer 28 Apr 2011, 06:46

+6 -0

But I am sure you agree with the indigenous concept of working as employees of family owned firms where non-family members are given "level" playing fields until the son or daughter or son-in-law is ready to be promoted.

Ravinath 29 Apr 2011, 20:56

i absolutely agree to that.

hmm 29 Apr 2011, 21:07

be conservative then. dont use internet, instead use post mails and telegraphs. Oh and if you think that there is no level playing field in international firms, then i must say, you should check your facts again. MAy be your facts are conservative :)

Anonymous guest 28 Apr 2011, 07:06

Hey Kian, any idea where Classis Law's office is in Delhi and what their phone no. is?

kianganz 28 Apr 2011, 07:08

+2 -1

I believe they are in their old office for now - http://www.almtlegal.com/offices.php

ALMT is left with only 1 associate in Delhi, while Vineet Aneja has joined with Clasis.

punk 28 Apr 2011, 08:29

@11: "i think if govt. policies change ALMT legal too will collaborate with some international firm. No scope for growth otherwise. cheers."

keep dreaming. foreign law firms will come to pakistan and bangladesh before they come to india.

lol 29 Apr 2011, 20:49

[quote name="punk"]@11: "i think if govt. policies change ALMT legal too will collaborate with some international firm. No scope for growth otherwise. cheers."

keep dreaming. foreign law firms will come to pakistan and bangladesh before they come to india.[/quote]

Verify your facts before commenting :D

Kanimozi 28 Apr 2011, 15:24

+1 -1

FYI foreign law firms and foreign lawyers are allowed in Bangladesh. Fox has an office in Dhaka and I have heard of Indian lawyers who practice there.

Zam 29 Apr 2011, 11:58

This is India but.

Zaman 29 Apr 2011, 11:54

Hello, I am a student of Jindal Global Law School and I have few points in mind to speak on the same.

With India being one of the fastest growing economies, I disagree to why foreign law firms are not allowed to set up in the country. Many foreign corporations and multi-national companies are increasingly entering into Indian markets in various sectors due to liberalization and globalization.I would say with India being world’s largest democracy, it is high time to improve its legal scenario and allowance of foreign law firms will definitely work to enhance its economy.
In other countries like UK whose legal market is opened, the results have been very fascinating. Each country has a stronger and a competitive legal profession than before, bringing specialization in International corporate law. The expertise has improved al lot and therefore, also gave domestic lawyers the access to such expertise of the international law firms. High level of foreign direct investment in the host country is seen and therefore, legal services are a key component of such successful economies.

The fact remains that India is in the process of globalizing its economy and in the process; the legal market opening up to competition from the international legal market is rather inevitable. It is perhaps more sensible to accept that the entry of foreign firms in India is only a matter of time. This should be seen as an opportunity for the law firms of competition and for the graduates, as a wider range of employment options.

Anyway, best friends relationship is still having its hold, which will gradually prove the point in few years. I wish good luck to Clasis Law.

aim 29 Apr 2011, 20:54

I completely agree with you zaman. Its just a matter of time. But for other's who think it cant happen, i would just say "IGNORENCE is BLISS".

Ravinath 29 Apr 2011, 20:59

i think its the FAMILY BASED LAW FIRMS which dont want these international firms to enter the ciruit. They know if this happens then they will be facing lot of competition from international firms, or i would rather say they would be out of competition.

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