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In an age-old tradition, Amarchand Mangaldas co-managing partner Shardul Shroff has sent all Delhi office female associates boxes of chocolates this week.

This week J Sagar Associates (JSA) partner Nishith Dhruva left the firm to set up his own practice. And on good terms too, throwing a party last Friday where most of the firm and partners put on their dancing shoes.

Now that is what is called "amicable".

The Republic of India celebrated its 60th birthday this short working week.

In Mumbai at least, deserted streets on Tuesday and a pensive time to look back. Also a good week to count chickens, amongst other things.

In Maharashtra and Goa vote counting started for the Bar Council elections - rural turnout in Pune was a staggering 79 per cent, in the city less than 50 per cent. It'll be an interesting fight.

Record-breaking deals were inked this week to much merriment from law firms.

Wadia Ghandy will have been cheering for its client, which won the race in what is apparently the largest cash asset acquisition in Indian corporate history: Wadia's client GTL is buying network operator Aircel's tower business for almost $2bn. Amarchand Mangaldas is the happy advisor to Aircel but the suitor mandate could have gone to any of a number of firms, with a who's who of telecoms majors competing for the same assets. Not bad for early January.

(A second, unrelated reason to cheer at Wadia Ghandy: the firm won the ELP Cricket Masters Cup last weekend, persevering over tournament organiser and defending champions Economic Laws Practice in a dramatic final.)

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.

Massive lawyer mobility, entrepreneurism and Indian firms becoming global/Asian - what more evidence could there be of a rapidly maturing legal market?

Almost everything that could happen, did happen this week in Indian law.

And then hell froze over.

Legally India was the first to report one of the biggest items of foreign law firm news in 15 years: the Bombay High Court finally gave its judgment in the infamous case of Lawyers Collective v Ashurst, Chadbourne & Parke and White & Case.

The full swing of Indian shaadi (wedding) season is taking its toll on lawyers' time, with most attending a ceremony seemingly every other day.

Nevertheless, or perhaps especially because time is of the essence, lawyers have been acting quickly this week in the run up to the holidays.

JSA has seen a swap in two very hot practice areas: Khaitan & Co is starting up a competition law practice with JSA talent but in compensation JSA took AZB talent to kick off a direct tax practice.

Kaden Boriss was one of the first Indian firms to convert to limited liability partnership (LLP) this year, even before the implications were completely clear. Seven months later the firm has made up four partners and is happy. We have asked why.

Things usually start out nice and steady and the managing partner wears the star rainmaker cap and every other hat on top of it.

But with greater size come greater responsibilities.

It is therefore not a huge surprise that Amarchand Mumbai has taken on a chief operating officer (COO) to relieve the Shroff family of some of its internal management duties.

That Amarchand has hired a non-Indian COO from the UK is more unusual.

As is to be expected in an adversarial legal system, lawyers are generally a competitive lot, fighting for instructions, poaching talent and besting the opposition in negotiations.

However, while not yet fully-fledged, law students are easily on par with their qualified counterparts in the competitiveness stakes.

Rivalries range from national versus non-national law schools, five-year versus three-year courses, LLMs versus LLBs, North versus South and more or less everyone versus NLS Bangalore.

The Ambanis yet again dominated the national headlines as the multi-billion dollar dispute between brothers Anil and Mukesh began limping through the Supreme Court.

Then, as though there was not nearly enough drama in the saga, one of the three judges discovered that his daughter was a partner at AZB Bangalore.

Indian law firms have been modernising at breakneck pace, in part spurred by the threat of liberalisation, however distant.

But the backs of many legal minds are still niggled by the concern that innovation in India's actual legal machinery remains largely stagnant.

Tired of the "in India you litigate for 18 years"-joke, transactional lawyer and advocate Elizabeth Seshadri argues how India's Bar and Bench should be saved.

Legally India is a big fan of South Mumbai but the city's centre of legal gravity is gradually shifting North.

Both Khaitan & Co and Trilegal will take up residence in a new development in Lower Parel, joining Amarchand and several smaller firms in the area.

Last month Phoenix Legal also took a new address above the trendy nightspot Blue Frog in Lower Parel; the new office has a capacity of 30 but the firm is currently only six lawyers strong there.