AZB & Partners

Former Solicitor General Goolam Vahanvati was appointed Attorney-General of India on Monday (8 June), giving AZB & Partners the second close family connection in that post.

AZB & Partners yesterday (9 June) moved to a new office in Noida from New Delhi, in a bid to provide additional space for existing and future staff.

The firm had been looking for a new office for two years and last year it found its new property in Noida's commercial district, which is around 15km away from its former office in the heart of New Delhi.

Clifford Chance is seconding the head partner of its India practice group to its best friend AZB & Partners.

Clifford Chance project finance partner Chris Wyman (pictured) will relocate to AZB's Mumbai office this month and will spend at least several months there to improve the integration between the firms.

Wyman said that he would stay "as long as it takes" and added: "It is all about maximising the opportunities – if you just say nice words and do nothing else, you will soon cease to be useful."

AZB & Partners has bagged the biggest ever Indian cross-border merger mandate, advising Bharti Airtel on its revived $23bn bid to take over South African telecoms major MTN.

London international Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer will be advising long-standing client MTN but the company's Indian counsel has not yet been chosen.

AZB Delhi partners Ajay Bahl (pictured) and Gautam Saha are understood to be leading the legal team for Bharti, having won the instruction off the back of previous work done by the firm for the company.

National Law School of India University (NLSIU) Bangalore may expand internationally, as it plans to grow and modernise under the guidance of a new advisory board.

The advisory board will include managing partners from Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co, AZB & Partners and Luthra & Luthra, as well as one of the legendary co-founders of Infosys and a host of other prominent industry figures.

NLSIU vice-chancellor Venkata Rao (pictured) said that while international expansion will be on the agenda, decisions would only be made once the new board is fully constituted and has had its first meeting in July or August of this year.

Khaitan & Co has continued its aggressive lateral hiring strategy, taking partner Prabjot Singh Bhullar from AZB & Partners.

Bhullar (pictured) was based in AZB's Mumbai office but will relocate to Delhi, where he will significantly bolster Khaitan's infrastructure and projects capacity.

Khaitan partner Rabindra Jhunjhunwala said that the firm was keen to expand in infrastructure and tax, in order to improve cross selling opportunities to the firm's domestic clients.