Verus, which was started up in February 2011 by Bharucha senior associate Krishnayan Sen in Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai simultaneously, will grow to five equity partners with the new joiners.
All five equity partners are NUJS Kolkata graduates, with Dipankar Bandyopadhyay and Sourav Bhagat starting their careers in 2005 in the Kolkata High Court, while Rishad Chowdhury, Jay Parikh and Sen graduated in 2006.
The firm currently has around 10 non-partner fee-earners – five in Delhi including two counsel, four in Mumbai, and three in Kolkata - as well as an office headed by Nalsar Hyderabad 2005 graduate and litigator Mayur Reddy in Hyderabad.
Sen said: “It’s been a very steady growth the last 15 months. The biggest challenge was that all four offices grow steadily and that’s something that has happened.”
Around 75 per cent of the firm’s revenue currently came from litigation, he added, which would balance out into transactional with the two lawyers joining from Bharucha. The new joiners would usher in “the next level of growth”.
“I think it’s possibly going to be a distinguishing factor, having a very strong balance of both corporate and litigators.”
Bandyopadhyay and Parikh started at Amarchand Mangaldas’ Mumbai office in 2006 and joined Bharucha & Partners when it broke away from Amarchand in 2008.
“It was the entrepreneurial bug that bit me,” said Parikh about going to Verus. “This was always something on the backburner in a sense, because I had always thought of doing something on my own and it came up as a brilliant opportunity.”
He added that it would be challenging and that the responsibilities as a rainmaking partner would be different at a start-up firm to having been an associate at an established firm, although at Bharucha they had been involved in marketing and business development activities.
Bandyopadhyay added: “When we started out at Bharucha I had the flexibility of going out for clients and making new clients for the firm. The same role will continue but at a much more aggressive pace at Verus.” He said that he also wanted to be involved in training associates.
“They caught the entrepreneurial bug,” commented Bharucha co-founding partner Alka Bharucha, adding: “We certainly wish them well.”
Litigation bug
Chowdhury who is qualified to practice in India and New York after an LLM at Chicago Law School, will head litigation with Sen in Delhi, having previously worked in the chambers of senior advocate Raju Ramachandran.
Bhagat joined the firm in February 2012 after a stint with Fox Mandal in Kolkata and senior advocate Joymalya Bagchi until he was elevated to become judge at the Kolkata High Court in June 2011. Bhagat’s mandate would include finding work in eastern India, particularly in Bhubhaneshwar and Guwahati.
The firm will convert from sole proprietorship to a partnership firm from tomorrow and will be managed “collectively” by all the partners without a managing partner, said Sen. “The best part is that all the partners know each other for quite some time.”
Two more associate would join in Delhi shortly, and in both Delhi and Mumbai the firm was now looking for new office space, he noted.
Comments
so many bugs!!!! Poor writing.
I think we should all insist that the one-day old Verus Partnership should pass a resolution to the immediate effect that the above picture/photo of Mr. Sen be framed and hung at the entrance of every office of the partnership throughout India.
On another note, loads of best wishes guys. I know you will make us proud. Good luck to the team.
perhaps instead of asking why young lawyers are branching out without honing their trade, we should ask what the law firms are doing wrong that they cannot retain the right people? Does the fact that law firms are called "Shroff" and "Bharucha" etc. have something to do with it?
perhaps instead of asking why young lawyers are branching out without honing their trade, we should ask what the law firms are doing wrong that they cannot retain the right people? Does the fact that law firms are called "Shroff" and "Bharucha" etc. have something to do with it?[/quote]
i dont think i borrow ur idea of law firms not retaining people. i am just commenting on how, 4-5 years of work at a law firm will equip you to take such risks. if you talk to risk taking, take one right after law school, one wouldnt coz no client would come aboard. while this makes sense, i cannot appreciate how much client development can take place after 3-4 years. this is not a question of how good or bad a lawyer one is,it is about grounding in practice (disassociated with ego really) . If someone can learn everything there is to learn in a year, he should start his own thing and why not.
anyway, i congratulate these guys. hope they keep the entrepreneurial spirit alive.
What is the area and location that you are looking for new office space in Mumbai and what is the budget ?
What is the area and location that you are looking for new office space in Mumbai and what is the budget ?[/quote]
Kian should be quite happy - it seems even real estate brokers now read LI! :D