Exclusive: Luthra & Luthra has maintained its lead in the project finance domain as the top Indian and second-ranked law firm globally by deal volumes. Amarchand Mangaldas, S J Law Advocates, India Law Services and AZB & Partners followed up in the domestic rankings, where 163 projects worth $81.4bn were completed in India in 2010, according to data provider Dealogic.

Exclusive: Luthra & Luthra will move into new interim offices in Lower Parel this weekend, having finalised office space of 12,000 square foot in the Indiabulls complex enabling a tripling of current headcounts.

Exclusive: AZB & Partners has topped Legally India’s 2010-2011 quarterly initial public offering (IPO) league table taking it to second place in the financial year IPO rankings to date behind Amarchand Mangaldas and overtaking Luthra & Luthra, which did not file any IPOs in the last quarter.

Luthra & Luthra has continued its Delhi-round of internal promotions taking the partner promotion tally to three this December with the latest promotion of managing associate J P Singh to an indirect tax partner.

Titus & Co, Luthra & Luthra, Kochhar & Co, K&S Partners and Amarchand Mangaldas were the winning teams of the intra-pool matches of the fifth weekend of the Delhi Twenth20 tournament last weekend under foggy conditions.

Luthra & Luthra has promoted two lawyers in Delhi to partner and elevated 9 associates to the senior and managing associate rungs, with corporate seeing more than half of the action.

Titus & Co and Trilegal from Pool A and Luthra & Luthra and Dua Associates from Pool D have won against their respective opponents in the second round of the intra-pool matches played this weekend between Delhi law firms for the Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF) Cup in the TURF Twenty20 tournament.

The TURF Twenty20 tournament between law firms for the Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF) Cup has kick-started this year’s cricket frenzy as 16 teams from four pools prepare themselves to battle it out on the fields.

Exclusive: Amarchand Mangaldas has reclaimed the top rank in Legally India’s 2010-11 first-half-year initial public offering (IPO) league table ahead of Luthra & Luthra, with AZB & Partners winning third place after doubling its IPO mandates compared to the same period last year as Khaitan & Co dropped four ranks.

Luthra & Luthra has built on its lead in the Dealogic Indian project finance league table of the first three quarters of 2010, as Amarchand Mangaldas completed four project financings in the last quarter and caught up into second place ahead of newcomers such as Axon Partners LLP and R&A Legal Advocates. Globally the top two firms are also in the top 10 of project finance legal advisers by value.

Former Luthra & Luthra and FoxMandal Little partner Vineet Aneja has now joined ALMT Legal to start up the firm’s office in Delhi.

Luthra & Luthra has kickstarted its intellectual property (IP) enforcement practice with the hire of senior lawyers J Kumar Bhardwaj, Munish Mehra, Amit Upadhyay and their team from Anand & Anand.

Luthra & Luthra has won an anti-arbitration injunction for Sony-owned Multi Screen Media Satellite (MSMS) against former Indian Premier League (IPL) sports marketing company World Sports Group (WSG) restraining it from invoking or continuing with any international arbitration.

Amarchand’s Delhi office celebrated its 30th birthday this month and the office’s architects Shardul and Pallavi Shroff even received a rather touching Robert Frost-inspired ode by a proud partner to heroes sung and unsung. Less joyously, this month also marked the first departure of one of the firm’s new equity partners who were taken onto the partial lockstep two years ago.

Luthra & Luthra partner Vineet Aneja, who had re-joined his former firm from FoxMandal in Delhi one year ago, has resigned to look for more “entrepreneurial” opportunities.

Luthra & Luthra has hired DSK Legal associate partner Deepak THM as a private equity and M&A partner in its growing Mumbai office, taking the total headcount to five partners.

Private equity (PE) boutique firm Lexygen advised TA Associates in acquiring a nearly 16 per cent stake in Luthra & Luthra’s clients Dr Lal PathLabs for Rs 163 crore by picking up half of Sequoia Capital’s stake in the diagnostics and pathology services company.

Trilegal is awaiting a response from the Bar Council of India (BCI) on whether the firm is allowed to convert to a limited liability partnership (LLP) under the Advocates Act, as start-up Vidhii Partners vowed to convert to LLP in two months and Luthra & Luthra, Nishith Desai Associates, IndusLaw and at least eight other firms have reserved respective LLP names.

Amarchand, Luthra & Luthra, Khaitan & Co and Trilegal have all ramped up their basic starter pay above Rs 10 lakhs, with offered packages including bonuses now running up to Rs 15 lakh at the top end.

Luthra & Luthra jointly topped Legally India’s quarterly IPO league tables for the first time alongside Amarchand Mangaldas over the first quarter of the 2010-11 financial year with five mandates each while AZB & Partners slotted into third place.