partner hires

Jeet Sen Gupta, who had joined Juris Corp as a partner in July 2015 from Economic Laws Practice (ELP), has now joined the Mumbai start-up Vertices Partners, which was set up by three ELP alums.

Luthra & Luthra partner Santanu Mukherjee, who is head of international trade and policy advisory at the firm and had joined less than a year ago, has announced he’d leave Luthra to apparently go independent.

Delhi boutique indirect tax firm Nitya Tax Associates, which was started in June 2015 by ex-BMR Associates indirect tax head Puneet Bansal, has hired Shiva Nagesh from the DLF Group as its second partner.

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas’ Mumbai partner Ashish Jejurkar, who was hired in 2009 from Luthra & Luthra, will be leaving the firm and moving to Japan, as first reported by Bar & Bench.

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas Hyderabad partner Anshuman Jaiswal is going in-house to join Indian renewables giant Greenko Group in a senior position.

Juris Prime, which had demerged from Kochhar & Co in Hyderabad last year after four years, merged with the litigation practice of Raja Shekar that operated as Salvaji Legal.

Former Luthra & Luthra partner Rajesh Chavda, who as we had reported on 2 November had left the firm, has now joined IDFC Alternatives as director legal and compliance.

Indigo has hired a new general counsel (GC) with Gibson Dunn & Crutcher Singapore-based of counsel Priya Mehra, reported Bar & Bench.

Essar Power general counsel (GC) Sumant Nayak will be joining Desai & Diwanji as a partner in Mumbai.

DH Law added intellectual property (IP) lawyer Hasit Seth to set up an IP and Technology vertical for the firm, as a partner in Mumbai.

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas Delhi partners and husband and wife team Harry Chawla and Niti Paul, who were first reported to be leaving in September, are “in the process of setting up our new firm” under the name Atlas Law Partners, Chawla told Bar & Bench.

Kochhar & Co Delhi partner Ricky Chopra has gone independent again, setting up Ricky Chopra - International Counsels in Gurgaon with immediate plans to expand with tie-ups in New York and Chandigarh, possibly followed by Mumbai.

Kochhar & Co added ALMT Legal partner Gautam Bhatikar as a senior partner and co-head of the Mumbai office of the firm. Bhatikar has joined the firm with ALMT senior associate Zoeb Cutlerywala.

The seven largest law firms in India have grown their headcounts by an average of around 20% in the last one-and-a-half years. Of those, the fastest-growing such as Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas and Khaitan & Co, had expanded fee-earner headcounts by 45% and 35% respectively, while others such as AZB & partners’ partnership ballooned by 75%.

Economic Laws Practice (ELP) added former Ashurst London senior associate Akshay Kishore as an associate partner in Mumbai.

Economic Laws Practice (ELP) Chennai head and partner Karthik Sundaram left the firm on 14 October to go into counsel practice, around 14 days after former managing partner Rohan Shah formally retired from the firm to become a counsel.

As first reported by us in August, two PwC indirect tax experts have now joined in partner-equivalent positions as executive and associate directors in Mumbai.

Argus Partners merged with Mumbai firm P&P Legal, adding its founding partner Prakash Panjabi as an equity partner and Panjabi’s son and the other P&P Legal partner Pritish Panjabi as a partner in its Mumbai 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.

Economic Laws Practice Mumbai associate partner Sumit Rai left the firm in October to go into counsel practice.