law firm management

HSA Advocates has hired Economic Laws Practice (ELP) partner Ashutosh Gupta as a partner and as chief strategy officer.

Following competition partner Amitabh Kumar’s retirement, which we had reported less than two weeks ago, Gurgaon-based partner Upendra Nath Sharma has been elected into the firm’s executive committee (excom), as one of five partners.

Link Legal India Law Services’ former chief executive officer (CEO) Jayanarayanan NR, who had left earlier this month to relocate to Mumbai, has joined IndusLaw as CEO according to authoritative sources.

Link Legal India Law Services chief executive officer (CEO) Jayanarayanan NR, who had joined the firm in February 2016 from Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, has left the firm and will relocate to Mumbai.

Nishith Desai Associates (NDA) has reversed its salary freeze that we had first reported in June, giving annual salary increments to fee-earners with retrospective effect.

Nishith Desai Associates (NDA) had circulated an internal email announcing a salary freeze for mid-level associates and above, due to the firm having experienced “stagnancy in the revenue growth for 2019”.

Khaitan & Co has bumped up its revenues in the 2018-19 financial year by 20 to 25% to cross Rs 600 crores, according to several authoritative sources with knowledge of the figures.

L&L Partners, formerly known as Luthra & Luthra, has re-launched its website to now include a list of partners in each practice area, after it had for a long time maintained a fairly basic online presence (excepting its activity on Facebook, of course).

Amitabh Sharma, the managing partner of HSA Advocates who had joined in April 2016 from Khaitan & Co, has laid down his management duties at the firm.

The managing partner of Gurgaon-headquartered Kaden Boriss Legal, Hemant Batra, said he would be taking a back-seat in future, having bestowed the managing partner title to four of the firm’s lawyers, each of whom will be responsible for a practice vertical.

After changing its constitution earlier this year, the partnership of J Sagar Associates (JSA) has today elected senior partner Delhi-based Amit Kapur into joint leadership at the firm, alongside partner Vivek K Chandy.

We are very happy to announce the formal launch of Legally India’s live deals league tables, law firm and lawyer directory.

Khaitan & Co has set out a number of progressive human resources (HR) policies to facilitate flexible working, including some additional maternity (and paternity) benefits and compensatory time-off when workloads get extreme or interfere with pre-arranged holidays.

Khaitan & Co has promoted seven of its principal associates to non-equity partner level, though formally the firm has abolished the associate partner designation to help its young partners in brand-building and to externally present a more unified partnership.

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas has relaxed its earlier controversial policy under which it could claw back up to three months’ remuneration from fee-earners, clarifying that only the difference between standard remuneration and “enhanced” remuneration over three months would be “returnable” (and only if lawyers join a rival law firm).

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (SAM) has instituted a novel HR policy: fee-earners who leave the firm within the next seven months will have to repay the firm three months’ of their retainer fees.

Law firms J Sagar Associates (JSA), Khaitan & Co, Trilegal, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) and AZB & Partners (roughly in that order) were consistently ranked as the top 5 of big law firms in terms of “culture”, “leadership” and “rewards & recognition”, “satisfaction” and “pride”, according to a survey by legal recruitment and management consultant Vahura.

Many Indian firms have been looking to do more of knowledge management (KM) for many years, with an eye on their foreign counterparts, but the immediate pressures of earning revenues and servicing clients often get in the way. At AZB & Partners, Bhavi Sanghvi, has now transitioned from corporate, M&A and private equity partner to full-time knowledge management, heading up its KM function for the past month-and-a-half.

Economic Laws Practice (ELP) has added former Tata Power head of strategy and contracts Karishma Maniar as an associate director in its defense and aerospace practice, and former Delhi-based Khaitan & Co business development director Ashutosh Gupta as partner, strategy and planning.

Legal technology consultant and (Cyril) Amarchand alumnus Eshan Sharma, has joined AZB & Partners on 2 April as its chief operating officer (COO).