Chennai

Khaitan & Co has bolted on the Chennai-based law firm Assentio Legal, which had been started by Thriyambak Kannan, Rohan Cherian and Renu Gopalakrishnan, who will join from 1 July with their team in Khaitan’s Chennai and Bengaluru offices.

Khaitan & Co has announced that it would open an office in Chennai later this year with a relocation from Mumbai and the hiring of dispute resolution independent counsel Arva Merchant as a local partner in the city.

Phoenix Legal Chennai head and partner Shadaan Mohammed Saipillai and tax litigator Arun Kurian Joseph have together set up local law firm Calibre Legal; Phoenix will shut shop in the city.

Phoenix Legal has taken on Kochhar & Co Chennai partner Shadaan Mohammed Saipillai as a partner in its Chennai office.

Siddharth Raja, who was a co-founder of Narasappa, Doraswamy & Raja that later became Samvad Partners, will join Argus Partners in Bangalore as a senior partner and national executive director, with a remit to also oversee the firm’s Chennai practice.

Dua Associates has reabsorbed its former fee earner R Ganesh, in its Chennai office as partner in the firm, after Dua’s Chennai partner Aarthi Narayanan left to join Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas.

According to the allegations in the Bombay high court section 9 petition against former Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) Chennai partner Dorothy Thomas, Thomas “in direct collusion with” Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas instructed associates to “extract confidential files” of CAM’s “in a systematic and pre-planned manner” from 26 September before she and her team had resigned from the firm.

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) had alleged in the Bombay high court application for interim relief in arbitration proceedings that team members of departing Chennai partner Dorothy Thomas had taken boxes of CAM client files from the office.

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) Chennai head and corporate partner Dorothy Thomas and her team are set to be joining Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (SAM), according to authoritative sources.

Dua Associates Chennai partner Aarthi Lakshmi Narayanan has joined Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas as a partner focusing on real estate.

The Union Cabinet at its meeting in Delhi today with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the chair approved the introduction of a bill to rename high courts named after cities they are located in, consequent to cities' name being changed.

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas has scooped Cognizant Technology Solutions India & APAC region general counsel (GC) Anand Bhushan to set and head up its new Chennai office after he fully leaves a little later this month, according to three authoritative sources.

Wadia Ghandy has shut its office in Chennai as the firm’s partner heading the Chennai practice, Shona Malvi, is going independent

J Sagar Associates (JSA) retained partner Chitra Narayan in Chennai will go independent to focus on mediation, reported Bar & Bench.

She told the website, “I have been a mediator with the Tamil Nadu Media & Conciliation Centre for about ten years and a year and a half ago I along with others co-founded Private Initiative for Mediation and I want to focus on that now”, while JSA’s outgoing managing partner Berjis Desai said that “she was keen to pursue a career in mediation principally. Sad to lose an excellent resource”.

Narayan had joined JSA when the firm absorbed local start-up Vichar last year to open in Chennai. Vichar’s other co-founders Vinod Kumar and Aarthi Sivanand remain at JSA

Litigator Udayarkar Rangarajan has joined Khaitan & Co as an associate partner based in Bangalore, from where he will focus on building the practice in Chennai.

HSB Partners Chennai partner Varun Sriram has joined J Sagar Associates (JSA) in Chennai, reported Bar & Bench.

Sriram had been at HSB since graduating from Symbiosis Law School in 2006, followed by two two-year stints at Economic Laws Practice (ELP) and ALMT Legal before returning to HSB in 2012, becoming partner there in February 2014.

We have reached out to JSA, HSB and Sriram for comment.

Update: HSB partner TK Bhaskar commented: "We wish him all the best in his future endeavours."

Update 2: JSA managing partner Berjis Desai commented confirmed his joining as a retained partner.

JSA opened in Chennai in 2014 by merging with Vichar Partners.

Orbit Law Services, which was started up last year by Clasis Law project finance breakaway partners Ishtiaq Ali and Damodara Rao, with PV Rao, opened its fourth national office in Chennai, after Delhi, Mumbai and Vijaywada.

Orbit associate partner Haridas Sriramulu and one associate from the firm were relocated to the Chennai office which is headed by PV Rao from Mumbai.

The firm, which was started up in September 2014, has a team of 35 lawyers including two senior partners, four partners, seven associate partners, two senior consultants, four senior associates and 16 associates, according to the press release.

Phoenix Legal has opened its first office after Delhi and Mumbai, launching in Chennai today with a team of four lawyers.

SNG & Partners partner S Babu has joined Economic Laws Practice (ELP) in Mumbai.

Twenty months after the Supreme Court (SC) had given 10 weeks to complete serving notices on foreign law firms, the Bar Council of India (BCI) appeal against foreign law firms practicing in India, remains stuck at the service stage.