Khaitan Sud & Partners (KSP) has dissolved its motor accident claims (MACT) vertical with insurance litigation partner Ashutosh Singh and his team of three lawyers, who were handling it, leaving the firm.
Singh told Legally India that the firm had decided to exit the practice but that he and his team had not yet resigned and the terms of their exit from the firm were “still under consideration”. KSP managing partner Umesh Kumar Khaitan said that the firm was helping Singh and the team relocate to various insurance companies.
Singh said that since the date of exit was also not final yet, he had not yet taken a decision on his plans after exit. Singh has 15 years of experience as a lawyer and had joined the firm in April 2013 after working for 5 years as zonal legal head at Bajaj Allianz Insurance Company.
Umesh Kumar Khaitan commented: “We are still continuing to do high end and high value insurance matters. This [practice area] was all low end matters. We realised we don’t want to be in this space as it gives a wrong message to the insurance companies that we are doing this MACT business.”
“It is a very high volume business. Traditionally they have been handling this vertical differently. It involves very clerical jobs and is very process driven. There is no legal or mental contribution to the problem. We wanted to be in the high end space, where the claims are in excess of Rs 10 crore, and that is what continues to be our focus area,” he added.
Khaitan said: “It is not as if we are asking [the team] to leave or they are leaving us. In fact we did a sort of a soul searching amongst ourselves and they also realised that it might be a good idea. Traditionally this kind of work is being done all over India by individuals in different locations. We tried to attempt this with a view that maybe we can provide a good service to insurance companies by inviting them to look at it as a management of their litigation.”
KSP partners Trinath Tadakamalla and Mrinal Ojha, who joined the firm in June 2012 from Tuli & Co, head the firm’s general insurance and reinsurance practice, on which the firm will now exclusively focus on in the insurance sector.
Tadakamalla told Legally India that his practice was always completely separate and disconnected from Singh’s MACT vertical, which he and his team handled “in a vacuum”. Before Singh spearheaded the MACT vertical around three junior associates at the firm were taking care of work under it, he said.
In March 2013 KSP expanded its corporate practice reach under lateral hire Preeti Balwani, who joined the firm from ALMT Legal as a salaried partner to head up the Mumbai office.
Comments
"...Tadakamalla told Legally India that his practice was always completely separate and disconnected from Singh’s MACT vertical, which he and his team handled “in a vacuum”. Before Singh spearheaded the MACT vertical around three junior associates at the firm were taking care of work under it, he said."
This is really a dog eat dog world ! Isn't it?
[quote name="Anonymous"][...]
"...Tadakamalla told Legally India that his practice was always completely separate and disconnected from Singh’s MACT vertical, which he and his team handled “in a vacuum”. Before Singh spearheaded the MACT vertical around three junior associates at the firm were taking care of work under it, he said."
This is really a dog eat dog world ! Isn't it?[/quote]
Thank you for your comment.
To be fair I did ask Trinath for comment on how his practice would be affected by Ashutosh's exit, since he and Mrinal are the partners handling the practice that remains at the firm.
Best wishes,
Prachi
What I find to be most irksome is this comment: "There is no legal or mental contribution to the problem." - is this correct, leave alone fair? It is most certainly a very very poor choice of words from someone who is expected to provide leadership.
[quote name="Prachishrivastava"]Hi,
Thank you for your comment.
To be fair I did ask Trinath for comment on how his practice would be affected by Ashutosh's exit, since he and Mrinal are the partners handling the practice that remains at the firm.
Best wishes,
Prachi[/quote]
[quote name="Chole Bhature Vendor"]I disagree! Almost all of them![/quote]
[quote name="Chole Bhature Vendor"]I disagree! Almost all of them![/quote][/quote]
"Khaitan Sud exits volume motor accidents vertical"
Ya right!! That makes no sense whatsoever!!
[quote name="Pav Bhaji Vendor"][quote name="Annoy"]Being taught how to write and read this much, clearly couldn't help u to comprehend. Our education system clearly needs an overhaul !
[quote name="Chole Bhature Vendor"]I disagree! Almost all of them![/quote][/quote]
"Khaitan Sud exits volume motor accidents vertical"
Ya right!! That makes no sense whatsoever!![/quote]
Honestly though, 'volume' is quite a common term in the legal field for a practice area that's low margin. Sure, there are a lot of words in that sentence (7) but am surprised it's causing such OUTRAGE! ;)
[quote name="Time-out"]The comments indicate that those writing them know nothing about either running a practice or being a part of a successful one, as if they did they would be busy concentrating on what they were doing instead of comment on some unrelated (and very peculiar) practice area in another firm closing down! Serious waste of time...[/quote]
There is a reason why JSA's IP prosecution practice is with KNS. It is because it is fundamentally a very high volume, low revenue practice! KSP still has the time to improvise and shift Ashutosh Singh's practice into another office, with a different brand name, which can run more cost-effectively..
[quote name="Legit Question"]So, does this mean that when a claim is only in excess of Rs 10 crore, one is required to apply his or her mind otherwise not ??? Sir ! You do not fail to amuse me !!! ---"It is a very high volume business. Traditionally they have been handling this vertical differently. It involves very clerical jobs and is very process driven. There is no legal or mental contribution to the problem. We wanted to be in the high end space, where the claims are in excess of Rs 10 crore, and that is what continues to be our focus area,” he added.[/quote]
[quote name="Legit Question"]So, does this mean that when a claim is only in excess of Rs 10 crore, one is required to apply his or her mind otherwise not ??? Sir ! You do not fail to amuse me !!! ---"It is a very high volume business. Traditionally they have been handling this vertical differently. It involves very clerical jobs and is very process driven. There is no legal or mental contribution to the problem. We wanted to be in the high end space, where the claims are in excess of Rs 10 crore, and that is what continues to be our focus area,” he added.[/quote]
LI is known to report all kinds of news related to the legal-industry, including stories of this kind, which are probably not significant to you? Tell us,where did you find the spice?
This can easily be seen as a neutral report and an accurate reflection of the confused and scattered minds and insecure-sponges that run this firm.
[quote name="No nonsense"]The article does not make sense. If the practice was not important, why was it encouraged? If it was not important, why come out with a spicy story? It just shows lack of vision and lack of stories for publishing[/quote]