With several months delay, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (SAM) has announced its annual partnership promotions.

A total of 10 principal associates got the nod to salaried partner, growing the firm’s total partnership size to 125.

In September 2020, the firm had promoted 85 associates up the rank - a larger number than the previous year - suggesting a smaller partnership promotion this time around.

Indeed, there was speculation that SAM would not announce any partnership promotions at all in the pandemic year, that potentially remains economically cataclysmic.

However, the partnership promotions this year are indeed smaller: in the previous round in October 2019, 10 were promoted to equity partner and only two to salaried partner.

• Abhinav Maker, Capital Markets, Delhi
• Anjali Menon, General Corporate and Private Equity, Mumbai
• Aparupa Saha, General Corporate, Mumbai
• Devesh Pandey, General Corporate, Delhi
• Faraz Khan, General Corporate, Mumbai
• Gauhar Mirza, Dispute Resolution, Delhi
• Kirti Mahapatra, General Corporate, Delhi
• Kushal Sinha, Projects & Project Finance, Delhi
• Prateek Lala, General Corporate, Bengaluru
• Saurav Panda, Insolvency & Bankruptcy, Delhi

Three of the promotees are based in Mumbai while six are in the Delhi office; Bengaluru saw one new partner.

The corporate teams provided the largest contingent of new partners, at six, followed by one each in capital markets, disputes, projects and insolvency.

SAM rival Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas had announced its Covid-year promotions more or less on schedule, in July 2020, also with a round of 10 new partners, which was half as many as it had been the previous year.

The SAM press release quotes made no mention of Covid, the delay or any economic issues but emphasised quality, suggesting that the process was perhaps more competitive this year than usual.

SAM executive chairman Shardul Shroff commented: “We are thrilled to announce promotions of our highly talented lawyers to Partnership. The promotions reflect a rigorous internal process and are based on a track record of high quality performance made by these lawyers to the firm. They are extremely valuable members of our team and we are proud of each one of them. As they rise to the next stage of their career trajectories, we have every faith that they will continue to excel.”

Delhi-based managing partner Pallavi Shroff said: “It is always our goal to recognize and support the exceptional talent in the firm. I congratulate all those who have been promoted and wish them much success as they take on their new roles. We take immense pride in the high quality talent our Firm possesses. Everyone who has been part of these promotions have provided tremendous value to the Firm’s growth and I am confident of their continuing contributions in the future as well.”

Akshay Chudasama, Managing Partner, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas said, We are pleased to recognize their hard work and commitment. We look forward to their constant contribution to the success of the firm as we continue to build on our value-based and performance-driven approach in this new year. Their success is a testament of their hard work and the high-quality work that they have done and delivered to our clients.”