Amarchand Delhi CFO & COO resigns

Wednesday, 29 July 2009 By Kian Ganz Law firms

Amarchand Mangaldas Delhi’s joint chief financial officer (CFO) and chief operating officer (COO) Bithika Anand has resigned after almost 11 years with the firm, as Amarchand Delhi’s auditors have temporarily stepped in until a replacement can be found.

Anand is understood to be moving to Mumbai for personal reasons and is currently working out her notice.

Amarchand Delhi managing partner Shardul Shroff (pictured) said: “As a leader of the firm I value family values very highly and support women in careers who have the urge to bring balance to their lives. Since her resignation was based on these facts, I accepted it.”

He added: “She has been like a family member as she was a school classmate of Pallavi [Shroff]‘s sister. She did well as a person growing from the ranks to the CFO post.”

Anand told Legally India: “My years in Amarchand with Shardul Shroff were fantastic.”

Shroff said that the Delhi firm’s search committee and head hunters were currently finding a suitable candidate to take Anand’s role.

“The region’s independent auditors have stepped in to manage her function and have seconded a partner for handover management. This is a very smooth process,” he explained.

The Mumbai region’s partnership, which is managed by Cyril Shroff, has a separate CFO.

Comments

bemused 30 Jul 2009, 12:19

+0 -0

and this is news because?

excellent 30 Jul 2009, 13:02

ya this is "breaking news" ....Kian come man! You can do much better than this.

Guest 30 Jul 2009, 13:19

491: you have made it abundantly clear that you have no idea how a law firm is run.

bemused and amused 30 Jul 2009, 14:07

maybe 494 can throw some light on it...

AyeCaramba 30 Jul 2009, 20:10

I don't know about other readers, but I for one, would like to know about the COO/CFO of a firm as large as Amarchand leaving. In a professional set up, a COO/CFO is (or should be) as important as is any one partner and if a partner leaving or joining a large firm is news, so should be the leaving or joining of a COO/CFO. For instance, if the CFO of (say) PWC (Asia) joined Amarchand (and maybe we will see moves like that in the future, as we do now in mature law firms), that *IS* news.

On a un-related note, I wonder how many of the large Indian firms have a COO or CFO and what their role actually is.

I know Bithika played a key role in maintaining sanity at AMSS Delhi, through the ups and downs, and I will always wish her the best in whatever she does next, as I am sure will the partners and associates at Amarchand

494 again 31 Jul 2009, 10:18

AyeCaramba has explained it very well.

And a CFO probably knows a firm's finances better than most partners. A good CFO is worth their weight in gold - most lawyers are not too good with numbers.

A couple of comments... 1 Aug 2009, 00:28

Leave aside the fancy corporate titles of "CFO" and "COO", nearly all decent-sized Indian law firms now have at least one person who looks after the firm's accounts and another to deal with day-to-day administration. In many cases, the firms now have proper departments to deal with operational and support services.

AyeCaramba - I wouldnt attach too much importance to the title tags. That said, few firms actually have a non-lawyer in the role of a "CFO" or "COO" in the fullest sense of those terms.

excuse me 6 Aug 2009, 09:30

[edited] i'd agree if u say this is a non event. just coz u cover the small niche world of law firms in India you can't start writing about renovation of offices and large scale repair of air conditioning now, can you. but can we focus on what should be focussed on? thank you.
[Ed: Comment moderated - original comment off-topic and moved to forum 'I hate Legally India - discuss' - http://tinyurl.com/nbuhuu ]

Anonymous 12 Jan 2010, 05:52

Ok no fights!!!!!!!!!

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