Singh & Associates has hired Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan (LKS) Bangalore-based partner Neeraj Dubey in its local office there.

The 2004 Delhi University graduate had been at LKS as a joint partner since 2015, becoming a partner in 2018. He had joined from PSA (Priti Suri & Associates), where he had been for six years, becoming a partner in 2014 (see full bio below).

Singh & Associates founding partner Manoj K Singh commented in the release: “S&A has a presence in the South India region since 2010, and we already have a significant list of clients in the region.

“Neeraj’s considerable experience, together with our existing qualified team shall ensure that as we grow, our clients can continue to expect responsive, high-quality support across pan India.

“This will further contribute to scale up the firm’s competence in the corporate law practice in the Southern part of the country. Also, the Firm plans to hire more professionals to boost its overall growth strategy.”

Dubey commented in a press release: “It is a great opportunity to have joined this prestigious firm. With my experience and corporate practice techniques, I would be happy to add towards enhancing firm’s corporate law practice and achieve newer heights in the field.”

LKS commented: “We wish him the best for his new endeavour and thank him for his contributions to the firm.”

Forensics practice

Earlier this month, Singh & Associates had also launched a forensics practice by hiring former Mazars partner Subhayu Roy as the head of the department.

Roy had been at Mazars in Mumbai for a year from 2019, after one year at BDO as a director, and eight years at EY, which he left in 2018 as a senior manager.

He had also been an analyst at KPMG before then, and holds a three-year ICL graduate degree in science, and a diploma in software engineering from NIIT.

“With the launch of this service, Singh & Associates has become the only law firm in India, which provides a full range of forensic services with a unique legal focus,” claimed the firm in its press release.

: Indeed, as pointed out by a commenter, there are other firms with forensics practices, such as Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas and Singhania & Co had reportedly expanded into the practice in 2016.

Manoj K Singh said in the release: “Our regular interactions with existing clients, also a deep analysis of global trends, led to a strong conviction that forensic & valuation services backed by strong legal knowledge is also what we would like to offer to our clients.”

According to the firm’s press release:

As India prepares to be among one of the top economies of the world, with open global trade, ease of doing business, corporations always run the risk of fraud, corruption and other irregularities hidden as financial transactions within the organisations and/or by external partners. That is why the importance of forensic services backed by legal knowledge has been growing rapidly within India and globally...

Envisaging the growth of the business from its existing as well as potential clients, Singh & Associates has strategically decided to launch significant forensic investigations and valuation department. With this synthesis, businesses will receive dual benefits of forensic discovery and legal representation in one place. This will be a unique approach to dealing with financial issues with legal handle...

The forensics team now consists of 30 professionals, including, according to the firm, “chartered accountants, economists, CFA (Certified Financial Analyst, USA) CFE (international Certified Fraud Examiner), MBA, lawyers, certified forensic technology professionals, forensic data analytics and cybersecurity professionals”.

Singh & Associates would be looking to grow this into “one of the biggest such team[s] by the end of the financial year”.