•  •  Dark Mode

Your Interests & Preferences

I am a...

law firm lawyer
in-house company lawyer
litigation lawyer
law student
aspiring student
other

Website Look & Feel

 •  •  Dark Mode
Blog Layout

Save preferences

JSA Bangalore partner Murali Ananthasivan starts independent counsel practice with eye on NCLT

Murali Ananthasivan starts Bangalore chambers
Murali Ananthasivan starts Bangalore chambers

J Sagar Associates (JSA) Bangalore equity partner Murali Ananthasivan has gone independent to become an independent counsel again.

Ananthasivan told us that he started up his Bangalore-based chambers on 1 April, which has already included him appearing in Karnataka high court and National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) matters, and would also include consultations in company law.

“I am 58, it is time I went out,” he said. “This was in my mind since June of last year.”

“I basically wanted to focus more on home-grown laws, rather than with seniority that meant a lot of management-related stuff at JSA,” he added. “I just wanted to go back and do pure lawyering.”

He had joined JSA in 2009 with Vivek Chandy, with whom he had been running M&C Partners for one year after leaving AZB & Partners.

His chambers also included two juniors from JSA, he said, but the “idea is not to create another firm”.

“As I grow, I’ll take a call,” he added about any further hires in future.

According to JSA’s website, he “has an extensive experience of over 30 years as a corporate lawyer. He has a rich and varied experience in Mergers & Acquisitions with emphasis on Corporate Restructuring, and also has a steady standing before the National Company Law Tribunals and High Court”.

In February, JSA stated in a press release also announcing partnership promotions that it wished him well and that:

[Ananthasivan] has long harboured a dream to go back to practicing as an independent counsel after ensuring that his team is settled with other EPs in Bengaluru. It will also permit him some time to pursue his other passions of golf, the hills of Coorg and of course his family. Each of our Bengaluru partners and their teams have vast litigation experience and we are glad that our corporate litigation practice will be in good hands.

He said at the time in the press release: “I have mixed feelings, for the journey with JSA has been for a good ten years and I will certainly miss the wonderful people who make the firm what it is. I also do look forward to resuming independent practice, which in effect is putting the clock back by 15 years. I am sure JSA will achieve its aspiration to be the finest law firm and I wish the JSA family all the very best.”

In 2014, JSA Bangalore partner Promod Nair had also started an independent counsel practice specialising in arbitration, while Mumbai partner Somasekhar Sundaresan had done the same in 2016.

Going counsel has been a bit of a trend for partners, with others such as DSK Delhi partner Balbir Singh in 2015 and ELP managing partner Rohan Shah doing so in 2016.

No comments yet: share your views