Khaitan & Co Mumbai partners Rabindra Jhunjhunwala and Haigreve Khaitan confirmed that Bassi would join the firm as a executive director.
Jhunjhunwala added that Bassi was currently serving out his notice period at Morgan Stanley but might take some time off before joining the firm.
Bassi was not reachable for comment by phone or email at the time of going to press. A Morgan Stanley spokesperson did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Bassi was promoted to managing director at Morgan Stanley in January 2011 after nearly two decades in banking. In 1995, after completing an MBA from Punjabi University Patiala and three years with PNB Capital Services, Bassi had joined JM Financial Consultants, which in 1999 entered into a joint venture with Morgan Stanley to become JM Morgan Stanley, and finally Morgan Stanley.
Jhunjhunwala said about Bassi: “He has been very, very closely associated with the entire evolution of the regulatory framework and we’re going to use his strength and his understanding of the entire market to boost the capital markets practice.”
Bassi will now be joining Khaitan & Co as a full-time, executive director, responsible both for business development as well as “very hands on and involved” in transactions as bankers on deals would typically work on.
Khaitan’s capital markets team is currently led by partners Nikhilesh Panchal and Vibhava Sawant. The practice was set up by former Little & Co partner Ravi Kulkarni when he joined the firm in 2005 as senior partner.
Other executive directors, who are considered partner-equivalent members at Khaitan & Co, are Daksha Baxi – who co-heads the firm’s Mumbai tax and funds practice – and Paku Khan, who is an Irish- and US-qualified lawyer and part of the competition team in Delhi after resigning from Amarchand Mangaldas in 2011.
Photo by Fang Guo
Comments
Great strides by this firm. Ganesh Prasad, Paku Khan, Siddharth Shah, Bijal Ajinkya and now Sudhir Bassi....people save you best talent ...Khaitan is on the prowl!
Knowing people in SEBI and at stock exchanges at senior level is different from knowing the legal provisions of securities laws and capital markets as a lawyer. And just because one is ex-so and so, doesn't mean work will come to the firm. And just because a person joins a firm, also doesn't mean, promoters will start initiating their IPO plans.
Will not be surprised if tomorrow, a bollywood or a hollywood celebrity joins an Indian law firm heading the media practice of the firm.
Yes, business development is good for Sudhir. I wonder whether he is even a qualified a lawyer. Be ready to levy "service tax" on KCO on the professional fees which you earn, if you are not an Advocate.
Once you achieve financial freedom in life, one can and may want to do anything. It doesn't really matter.
Bankers will flow their mandates to Sudhir.
Question is how will the grossly underdeveloped capital market team in Khaitan match up to execution? May be a few more poaches for execution is on the anvil.
Congrats! Good move.
Lawyers don't do execution, unless he/she has worked on operational areas earlier. In securities market at least, a person with operational background will be quick to catch up with the law quickly, but teaching operational areas to a lawyer is difficult. And that's where the insecurity of the lawyers starts in a law firm, where they start getting jittery about the person who has joined the firm with operational background.
Execution is nothing but a thorough "operational" understanding of the process, inside out. Execution is different from merely advising as a so-called "transaction lawyer".
Sudhir is a superb hire. Paku was smart to move out of a family run competition practice. Wonder how long before Nisha moves.
Are you serious or are you serious ?
I wouldn't even dare to comment on Mr Bassi's ability to handle a transaction!
Regarding him being an executive director -
Haven't you ever heard of a non-lawyer joining a law firm as an 'executive director' and not as a director that you commonly hear of in companies.
Are you a lawyer?
All tax guys these days who are chartered accountants usually become executive directors in law firms!
Starting your own will be good, if you have achieved financial freedom in your life. But mandates are not like fruits hanging on trees, which you just pluck and bring to the firm.
Today everyone wants good advice (not cheap advice) at low price. No one will pay you hourly rates, unless you have some tie-up with a foreign law firm (whether you admit it or not in public about the tie up).
But definately some poaches on execution side should be in line...
People who understand execution are not superficial, they are serious in their approach and their understanding of the law governing the market is very good. That's precisely where the the existing lawyers in law firms, at least in the area of "capital markets" will start getting insecure.
Probably IBs will be paid well to discourage any poaching attempt.
Just because a person in IB is leaving does not mean IB will start paying more. There has to be cash inflow to justify a hefty cash outflow.
I am sure the Bombay High Court judgement (on foreign law firm) would equally apply to person who is not a qualified lawyer or not registered with the Bar Council, but works for an Indian law firm.
In 2012, KCO Mumbai became the firm with the highest attrition rate because of bad work environment and lack of work being brought in by partners other than the 2 managing partners. A firm which wants to step out of its old mold of being a family dominated firm must hire those who can make it rain and not those who were senior associates in NDA or Little & Co and have almost 0 contacts.
The recent inclusion of partners seems to be on the positive side as they are people with good market presence- GP, Paku Khan, 2 partners from NDA and the recent acquisition.
But amist this mix of cultures being brought in by the new partners, I hope the old value system of KCO, which is already in a bad shape, is not completely eroded
In fact, Khaitan in itself is a curious case-study in law firm management, is HBS listening?! If you objectively analyze what Khaitan, or what Haigreve has done right in 10 years in Mumbai , it is nothing short of being a dream run! Before Khaitan decided to take the gamble of testing Mumbai waters, it was yet another old Kolkata firm, lost in time and space! And how the gamble paid off! At least in India we now have an alternative to AMSS and AZB, both for the lawyers as well as clients.
Few lessons that managing partners/founders/partners of other firm can perhaps learn from Khaitan, things that it did right in last decade:
1. A family owned Firm can turn into a professional firm; transparent and accountable, if the leadership is not insecure and believes in its abilities, competence and lastly collective growth and wisdom.
2. You can still successfully lead a law firm partnership by ceding majority equity to your partners; sharing is caring! Reports suggest the Khaitan’s equity is barely double digit.
3. Growth and greed don’t always go together! At least there are two famous exceptions in the law firms landscape to this theorem but only time will tell whether they will sustain in the long run or not. I suspect they will not. I give them a decade, they will either change or perish!
4. You can get different individuals and teams from different firms, both domestic and international and still be a cohesive unit; there’s hardly been any notable departure from Khaitan at partner level. I cannot think of any in Mumbai in the last decade though there have been one after the other worthy acquisitions.
5. You can continue growing bigger and bigger; where there is a will there is way! All this chatter of failing and falling in high velocity growth is just gibberish or at worst, speaks of jealousy; if you are level-headed and focused on growth and sharing the fortune with your people, you will sustain and attain higher peaks. See their rankings across various legal publications soaring year after year.
We need more firms like Khaitan in India.
but one thing for sure kco has shown that they have deeeeeeeeeeep pockets.......