Amarchand Mangaldas and Desai & Diwanji reigned the 2009 year-end M&A throne by value and total number of deals done respectively, while Khaitan & Co and AZB & Partners sit comfortably near the top in a year of Asian M&A activity keeping a steady keel.

In Legally India's IPO league table for Q3 of the 2009-10 financial year Luthra & Luthra has usurped Khaitan & Co for the runner-up spot behind Amarchand's throne. Together the three firms picked up 49 mandates with a healthy 70-odd IPOs having been file d in that time period.

In other rankings, the Legally India Mooting Premier League has restarted with plenty of drama: Nalsar Hyderabad has drawn level with NLS Bangalore in the top-spot. And things promise to hot up further on the mooting circuit, particularly with the high-scoring international competitions just around the corner.

Meanwhile, Dua Associates and its breakaway firm Tatva Legal have made their first formal statements, more or less burying the hatchet and confirming a final leaver figure of 50 lawyers from Dua.

FoxMandal Delhi also appears to be putting the worst of its past woes behind it, having hired two new corporate partners and buffering its cash-flow with a strategic office sale.

In a different kind of politics, the Delhi Bar Council is trying to constitute itself after the recent elections. Question is, who will bag the most coveted posts? Getting a room of 25 lawyers to agree on 25 different things can not be easy.

Hariani & Co has built itself a new Mumbai office (in the South) and has been seeking a partner in Bangalore.

Two more unusual legal news items also hit this week.

A UAE law firm is opening up offices in Kerala, which is so far South to be off the radars of almost every metro city law firm lawyer.

And finally, a 24-year-old student from NUJS Kolkata has entered the LPO game proving that there is more graduation choice than just joining the royalty of the bar or law firms.

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Also LegallyIndia.com this week:
Watch this video interview with India's attorney general G E Vahanvati, the first in a series of featured Rainmaker video interviews.

And in Legally India's new section of law blogs (blawgs), join the discussion on why the Times of India top 10 lawyers list has not included a single law firm lawyer. Plus, student activism and huger strikes in Punjab and an expansion of India's death penalty.

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