partner hires

Kochhar & Co has hired former associate director legal (South Asia) of the Carlson Rezidor Group, Sumit Phatela, as a partner in its Gurgaon office’s corporate, banking and finance practice.

Phatela was previously working with the office of general counsel of Ernst & Young India, and had been at the banking & finance team of SNG & Partners’ Delhi office for five years, according to a press release from Kochhar.

Legally India reported earlier today that Kochhar also hired Universal Legal partner Gaurav Chatterjee in Chennai.

Erstwhile Amarchand Mangaldas’ Delhi-region principal associate and NLIU Bhopal grad Bishwajit Dubey, who had left the firm several months ago, has joined Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas’ Delhi office as a partner designate in litigation.

Bharucha & Partners Delhi disputes partner Kapil Arora will join Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas with a team of three associates.

Former Amarchand Mangaldas Gurgaon-based IP partner Ranjan Negi, who resigned from the Shardul Shroff managed region of the firm last month, will join Shardul’s brother’s split firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas with his team of five.

Four J Sagar Associates (JSA) salaried partners - Ashoo Gupta, Mithun Thanks, Ashni Roy and Gaurav Singhi – and around 13 to 14 other fee-earners will be joining senior JSA partner Akshay Chudasama in his move to manage Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas’ Mumbai office.

Akshay Chudasama, senior partner in J Sagar Associates (JSA) Mumbai, has handed in his notice and will be Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas’ new Mumbai managing partner.

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas is in advanced discussions with senior J Sagar Associates (JSA) Mumbai partner Akshay Chudasama to head its Mumbai office but nothing concrete has been signed or agreed between the parties according to several authoritative sources.

White & Case has hired Linklaters managing associate Pradyumna Mysoor as a local partner in its Hong Kong office.

Luthra & Luthra Mumbai corporate partner Sudipta Routh will join Vaishali Sharma’s corporate law start-up as its first lateral partner.

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas Mumbai-based principal associate Manisha Shroff is set to join Khaitan & Co, according to authoritative sources.

Luthra & Luthra Mumbai corporate partner Sudipta Routh has resigned while litigation partner Ashish Prasad, who was promoted only three months ago, has quit for Economic Laws Practice (ELP).

Phoenix Legal has hired Khaitan Sud & Partners partner Debarshi Dutta with senior associate Riddhi Sancheti and 2009-Nalsar grad Archisman Chaudhary into its Delhi litigation team.

Shardul Shroff will start in Bangalore in the next month with between five or six partners aiming for a headcount of 30 to 35 fee-earners, while in Mumbai organic expansion through lateral hires would continue to grow to up to 100 lawyers by year-end.

Cyril Shroff, who will launch his take on Amarchand Mangaldas today with new partnership Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, has confirmed the lateral hires made so far and partner moves to Delhi, while revealing that he planned to spend around half his time in Delhi in the first 12 months of the office.

Bombay high court advocate Ameya Gokhale, currently in the chambers of Pradeep Sancheti, is due to join the new Mumbai office of Amarchand Mangaldas Delhi managing partner Shardul Shroff as a partner, reported the Economic Times.

Gokhale left Khaitan & Co as a principal associate in August 2013, having joined in 2008 from an LLM at George Washington University Law School and two years at Amarchand where began his career after graduating from NLSIU Bangalore in 2005.

Dhir & Dhir partner Raghul Goel with his team is to join the upcoming Delhi office of Amarchand Mangaldas Mumbai managing partner Cyril Shroff, according to two authoritative sources.

BMR Legal indirect tax partner Madhav Rao, who had joined the sister law firm of consultancy BMR Advisors one year ago from Lakshmikumaran and Sridharan, has left BMR to join Advaita Legal as a senior attorney, reported Bar & Bench.

Advaita was set up in December 2013 by BMR co-founding partner Sujit Ghosh with a former KPMG partner. The firm is believed to be a best friend law firm to KPMG

Luthra & Luthra Delhi managing associate Siddharth Srivastava is joining Link Legal as a partner in banking and finance.