Exclusive: MDP & Partners has hired two corporate J Sagar Associates (JSA) senior associates as equity partners to bring up its total strength to eight partners.

JSA Mumbai transactional lawyers Dharmesh Kotadia and Amit Sirsikar have joined MDP effective 1 June as equity partners.

Kotadia focuses on corporate, commercial and restructuring work while Sirsikar specialises in corporate, commercial and media law.

Sirsikar said that their focus would remain the same as it was at JSA, catering to their existing contacts and developing the M&A practice at the firm.

MDP, which was boosted last week with the arrival of Ashok Paranjpe from Naik Paranjpe & Co, as it was then known, and a larger office space, was focusing strongly on building its corporate practice, said Nishit Dhruva, the founding partner of M Dhruva Partners as MDP was then known.

The new lawyers and partners would take MDP up to eight partners and 18 lawyers, according to Dhruva.

Dhruva added that the firm would be “settling down” for a month or two but admitted that more associates would need to be hired afterwards to increase the leverage ratios of partners to lawyers.

It is understood that Sirsikar and Kotadia were part of the same JSA corporate team as senior associate Dipali Sarvaiya, who had joined MDP as a partner in March.

JSA Mumbai partner Dina Wadia said that Kotadia and Sirsikar left amicably last month with the firm’s best wishes for their future endeavours.