Law firms

Luthra & Luthra has made 10 pre-placement offers (PPOs) to final year law students at three national law schools. The firm has also hired six lateral associates, with the fresh batch of seven new law school graduates now starting.

Luthra & Luthra has hired two more India-returnees, making up four international hires in only three months. Ashwin Sapra joins as a group head from an in-house position at a US pharmaceutical company and Piyush Mishra has rejoined the firm as a group head from Allen & Overy (A&O).

Wadia Ghandy & Co has opened its Chennai office with its local managing partner reporting a buoyant and untapped market.

Amarchand Mangaldas has acted for Wockhardt in selling 10 hospitals for Rs 909 crore ($186m) to Fortis Healthcare, which was advised by Vaish Associates in Mumbai.

Khaitan & Co has benefited as tour operator Cox & Kings overhauled its roster of IPO advisers, dropping J Sagar Associates (JSA), which had advised on the aborted 2008 flotation.

India's largest mortgage lender Housing Development and Finance Corporation (HDFC) has issued India's first ever dual warrants and bonds instrument, which was structured by AZB & Partners, Amarchand Mangaldas and Linklaters Singapore to raise Rs 4000 crore ($822m) for the company.

Khaitan & Co has won a temporary victory against alleged Bollywood plagiarism in the Calcutta High Court. The firm is representing movie producer Vipul Shah against Sri Venkatesh Films over the currently screening Bengali movie Poran Jay Joliya Re, which Shah alleges is a scene-by-scene "copy-paste" of his film Namastey London.

A raft of law firms have picked up mandates on the four latest initial public offer (IPO) proposals to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), with Amarchand Mangaldas taking two issuer mandates, Luthra & Luthra acting for one company and Rajani Associates for the fourth.

AZB, DSK and Trilegal have done well in Asia Pacific private equity deal rankings despite heavily depressed values and volumes this year.

Trilegal has hired a capital markets partner from its best friend Allen & Overy (A&O), to join the firm's Mumbai office and strengthen the referral relationship.

FoxMandal Little's Delhi office has paid its fee-earners the salaries it owed them, after the firm was unable to pay for two months due to cash flow difficulties.

Desai & Diwanji and J Sagar Associates (JSA) have sealed Essar Steel's Rs 650 crore ($135m) purchase of Shree Precoated Steels, with JSA facing the "challenging" task of acting as joint counsel to both seller and buyer.

Advani & Company is representing the family of India's first H1N1 virus victim against the Pune hospitals it alleges had caused her death.

AZB & Partners is relocating one of its Mumbai partners to Bangalore to ease the office's integration process after the merger with Anup Shah's local practice last month.

Amarchand Mangaldas has hired a Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer lawyer as a principal associate designate in its Delhi office.

Bharucha & Partners has taken over a Mumbai niche corporate practice, gaining the first new equity partner since setting up.