Cyril Amarchand strikes at Shardul Delhi disputes: PA Omar Ahmad joins as partner with team of 3

Friday, 7 September 2018 By Legally India Law firms

Omar Ahmad joins CAM from SAM with designation bump

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (SAM) Delhi disputes principal associate Omar Ahmad is joining Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) as a salaried partner with a team of three associates.

Ahmad is a 2010 graduate of Symbiosis International University who had started his career with what-was-then Amarchand Mangaldas.

He specialises in commercial litigation, telecom disputes and international arbitration, according to his Linked-in profile.

We have reached out to both SAM and CAM for comment.

Compared to SAM’s formidable and long-standing Delhi litigation practice - headed by co-managing and senior partner Pallavi Shroff - disputes has been a tough nut for CAM to crack in Delhi, especially with senior partner and litigator Percy Billimoria having announced his departure from the firm in May.

In its latest partnership promotions, Shardul Amarchand promoted one in its Delhi disputes practice to salaried partner - Surjendu Sankar Das - and two Delhi disputes lawyers to equity partner: Anirudh Das and Manu Nair.

CAM-SAM war: Gloves now fully off

These hires follow a tumultuous period of poachings between the competing firms, after an initial period of non-competition for talent until April 2016, following the Amarchand Mangaldas break-up into SAM and CAM.

Perhaps in a bid to gain an edge in the increasing competition for talent, we had reported earlier this week that SAM has instituted a new HR policy, under which any SAM leavers in the next seven months would have to repay the firm three months’ of their (increased) pay.

SAM’s senior corporate partner Akila Agrawal has recently joined CAM in Delhi, with one of her team’s principal associates Mukul Sharma also joining as partner.

In June of this year, CAM Delhi corporate partner Nivedita Tiwari moved to SAM.

And in October 2017, CAM capital markets partner Nikhil Naredi joined Shardul Amarchand after a whopping 6 months of gardening leave, having given notice shortly before SAM Mumbai corporate partner Gaurav Singhi resigned from SAM to CAM in May 2017.

In October 2016, SAM had raided CAM’s Chennai head Dorothy Thomas with her team.

Comments

kia 7 Sept 2018, 04:11

+24 -2

Amazing news !! Congrats Omar...!! you will do great wherever you go !!

Bravo 7 Sept 2018, 04:28

+21 -0

Amazing news

Senior Asso 7 Sept 2018, 05:54

+21 -1

Congratulations omar !! great going. Partnership at this age is a remarkable achievement !

first floor 7 Sept 2018, 05:54

+20 -0

a very best of luck Omar. A feather to the Arbitration practice of the firm !

ol 7 Sept 2018, 05:55

+19 -0

Congrats bilal !! very well deserved

Scooter- 7 Sept 2018, 05:58

+13 -10

And Dorothy had raided the filing department and imanage.

Bogs 7 Sept 2018, 05:58

+17 -0

You will set the standard high !! congrats omar

insider 7 Sept 2018, 06:01

+14 -0

Real good move..omar will add to the arbitration practice

captain89 7 Sept 2018, 06:03

+16 -1

Its a very smart move. Have worked with omar before, he is a very good lawyer ! congratulations omar

Congratulations 7 Sept 2018, 06:04

+13 -0

Good decision Omar. Wishing you all the very best.

jabel 7 Sept 2018, 06:06

+13 -1

great lawyer and a good friend. Congrats omar!!

Respect 7 Sept 2018, 06:06

Congratulations... Take CAM to new highs

Lucky You! 7 Sept 2018, 06:21

You got on the bus at right time! Congratulations and all the best

Former Okhla Colleagues

RockOn 7 Sept 2018, 06:28

What a move.. Heartiest congratulations Omar. You will do as always great.

IRCTC 7 Sept 2018, 06:28

+28 -0

IRCTC is pleased to announce a new train from Okhla to Saket. First time in India IRCTC is offering free tickets to travel. Please note the offer is for an indefinite period. Please don't mind to hop on the train. Ride will be amazig, IRCTC assures

Rider 7 Sept 2018, 07:39

+18 -0

Nahi gaye toh 3 mahine ke ticket ke paise Okhla walon ko dena padega, hop on quickly.

SSS & Co 7 Sept 2018, 07:37

+23 -0

Baach gaya mere chungal se!

[img]https://media1.giphy.com/media/2vmG84UHYsv4c/200.gif[/img]

Groove 7 Sept 2018, 07:58

+10 -0

Congrats omar !!Top flight lawyer moves to CAM

ravichai 7 Sept 2018, 08:07

Omar being an extraordinary lawyer would have been taken away by any firm. But management will never realise what blunder they have done. how can they let such good lawyers leave?? money being not an issues, they should have retained him at any cost.

Saket 2 7 Sept 2018, 08:11

+1 -0

Photo please

Well done 7 Sept 2018, 08:22

Congratulations Omar. Wishing you all the very best.

Suckers 7 Sept 2018, 08:30

CAM 2 - SAM 0

Innuendoes 7 Sept 2018, 08:32

+16 -0

Obviously if such draconian policy are brought in by SAM, what better can one expect.

Really? 7 Sept 2018, 08:47

+10 -34

Pardon me, but this looks like a chunnu munnu move exaggerated out of proportion, perhaps because of its timing. Crown Jewel?? Do you have any idea what it takes to reach the summit. That's the domain of the Salves, Palkhivalas, and Sorabjees - not some unheard of wannabe.

Rant 7 Sept 2018, 09:08

Grapes are sour for few. In this case, its you.

BossBoss 7 Sept 2018, 09:09

Perhaps you're just sad about you never getting recognition.

Super catch 7 Sept 2018, 09:05

+31 -1

Well played by Cyril. Getting Omar on board is one of the smartest things he could have done. Having Ciccu’s blessings will go a long way.

Marvel 7 Sept 2018, 09:06

Great going Omar. Time to take CAM to new heights.

Dahibhalla 7 Sept 2018, 09:06

Omar's move is a big loss. A lawyer like him should have been retained.

SamBoy 7 Sept 2018, 09:11

Smart move, specially in view of the policy they came up with. What do we do now.

Pokemon 7 Sept 2018, 09:22

Lets catch'em ALL

Chu 7 Sept 2018, 09:42

+4 -0

Pika pika !!

grndfl 7 Sept 2018, 09:23

+25 -0

Omar's move is shocker since he is one of the biggest biller of SAM in litigation and a damn good litigator!! why would they let him go..

partpart 7 Sept 2018, 09:24

last promotions were so bad that omar's move is not a surprise ! they need to pull up their socks!

Counsel??? 7 Sept 2018, 09:28

+18 -1

Having been on the opposite side of him in a few matters, there is no doubt that he is a good lawyer. But joining CAM may not have been the best idea. Perhaps, going independent would have been best for him.

ZYX 7 Sept 2018, 09:41

Absolutely agree! Starting counsel practice would have been ideal.

Kaos 9 Sept 2018, 07:28

+11 -1

He can always go independent after serving as a partner for a few years. Having knowledge of CAM's specialization in Arbitration (especially International & Investment), this is a great move. Also, a great move for "other reasons".

truthrules 7 Sept 2018, 09:28

any meritorious person won't stick to the firm if the firm starts acting against its own resources. In the light of the policy decision made yesterday, such moves are not a surprise. No respectful person will stick to such an institution which holds its own people back.

Gant 7 Sept 2018, 09:35

+19 -1

I wonder who will update the arb. practice group now about what the law is..!

SamPal 7 Sept 2018, 09:55

Yeah.. He was quick. As soon as the judgment was out, he update.
Omar- update us on watsapp please

SAM insider 7 Sept 2018, 10:20

+1 -7

Aren’t there others in the arbitration group who would continue to do so, hopefully!

Kaash 7 Sept 2018, 10:41

Wishes & horses!!

SamFriend 7 Sept 2018, 09:38

This is great news. Congratulations Omar. Hope you do much much greater as you did in SAM

Sagar Ratna 7 Sept 2018, 09:48

+25 -1

A great addition to the litigation arsenal no doubt. CAM still needs a big name to head its litigation practice in Delhi (like they did with Akila/ Himanshu (where is he?)). With Percy gone there is a void that needs to be filled up. Without a good recognizable and respected face as a leader, the litigation practice may be pulled into different directions. Heres hoping for the best. More power to CAM. They have fought the odds and come out successful. Lets hope that things go in favour of this firm. It has a lot to offer. Lot of good talent.

Observer 9 Sept 2018, 07:35

+10 -1

Would be good to know practices being offered in Delhi considering that almost everyone of repute is moving to this office now.

6x double bonus 7 Sept 2018, 10:34

+22 -3

While the story of SAM chaining its lawyers is still fresh in the mind, the irony is that Omar was perhaps one of the only few associates who could have actually benefited from the salary hike. Everyone in Okhla knows that he achieves 6 times of his target year on year and so do the people who work with him.

Gogo 7 Sept 2018, 11:25

+14 -1

Omar must have got a crazy deal !! He is a catch, the whole SAM knows that.

Allthebest 7 Sept 2018, 10:59

All the best Omar. New Job. New opportunities.

SachaDost 7 Sept 2018, 10:59

+15 -1

Bhai.. Hume kyu bhool gaya... Pucha bhi nai

Kps 7 Sept 2018, 11:30

+23 -2

This poaching is hard hitting. Omar was 'the' lawyer particularly for arbitration practice of the firm. This boy will be a leading name in arbitration practice in the upcoming years. I have worked with him, his knowledge is phenomenal.

Sharp 7 Sept 2018, 12:09

Nice !! Congrats omar

First floor 7 Sept 2018, 12:28

Now that Cyril has hired avant grade people like Akila Himanshu and Omar, hope he gives them wings and retains them. All the best

AD. 7 Sept 2018, 12:32

+19 -2

Very very happy for you...you deserve the best !! Tu heera hai..heera

Forensics 7 Sept 2018, 19:06

+28 -25

Most of the laudatory comments seem to be by the same author under different pseudonyms. The writing pattern (double exclamation marks, ellipses, similar grammatical errors) indicate that one person itself has penned most of the comments. No guessing who.

Litmus Test 8 Sept 2018, 03:41

+2 -17

Zero comments on Bar and Bench! Haha!!

Sherlock is here 8 Sept 2018, 06:20

+5 -13

[img]https://media0.giphy.com/media/D0GYKaNtxZNeg/200.gif[/img]

Excellent observation 9 Sept 2018, 01:16

+10 -18

Excellent observation...must admit. I was wondering why so many identical appraisal for this meager movement.

Who 11 Sept 2018, 08:37

+4 -14

This same grammatical errors were made in the internal release also. It now adds up.

Silly move 9 Sept 2018, 06:26

+12 -22

Really silly move. Everyone knows Omar wanted partnership at SAM but he wanted it now and was unwill to wait till April when his batch was up for promotion.... [...] He will soon realise that “tags” are useless... and he will rue the fact that he had fully freedom at SAM but at CAM he will have to kneel and bow down [...] every day.....

Litigator 9 Sept 2018, 07:33

+0 -0

Any delhi litigation head now? Nation wants to know.

Alias 10 Sept 2018, 06:58

+10 -21

I know CAM-SAM stories are juicy but this has to be one of the silliest ever. Some PA is shifting over and becoming a salaried partner (glorified PA) in another firm & the spin seems to be that this is the biggest coup of the decade. I don't know who is laughing the loudest here.....CAM, SAM or Kian?

kianganz 10 Sept 2018, 07:21

Since CAM is trying to crack Delhi, and a strong litigation practice being key to Delhi (which SAM has), this is quite an interesting move worth reporting I think.

And in any case, we report salaried partner hires at all firms...

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