partner hires

Amarchand Mangaldas principal associate Ajay Joseph has joined Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan as a corporate partner in Mumbai.

After graduating from Symbiosis Pune and a postgraduate at the University of Durham, Joseph worked at FoxMandal Little for around two years, Khaitan & Co for four years, and Amarchand Mumbai from 2012.

He could not be reached for comment since yesterday.

J Sagar Associates (JSA) tax chair Ashok Dhingra, partner Smita Singh, and partner-equivalent chartered accountant (CA) Sonia Gupta, have set up boutique tax advisory firm Ashok Dhingra Associates (ADA).

Clasis Law co-founding partner Sakate Khaitan and three Clasis senior associates have started Khaitan Legal Associates, a law firm with offices in Mumbai and London.

Kochhar & Co Chennai litigation head and partner J Sivanandaraaj is going independent with his team of 15 lawyers.

Khaitan & Co has completed its acquisition of the practice and teams of three co-founding partners of PXV Law Partners.

Madhurima Mukherjee, who had left Luthra & Luthra a year ago, has joined AZB & Partners in Delhi as a capital markets partner, according to several authoritative sources.

Former Trilegal counsel and regulatory practice head Sakya Singha Chaudhuri has joined HSA Advocates as partner to head the firm’s regulatory practice. Chaudhuri left Trilegal in the last week of July and joined HSA in August.

Ran Chakrabarti, the co-founder of William Chakrabarti & Associates, has joined IndusLaw as a partner in Delhi from 1 August.

UK educated, he began his career in London and Singapore at Ashurst and White & Case and moved to India in 2007 to join Amarchand Mangaldas, moving to legal process outsourcer (LPO) CPA Global in 2010 in the outsourced legal team for Rio Tinto as lead lawyer.

In a press release Indus co-founder Gaurav Dani said that Chakrabarti would add to the firm’s capacity in international debt transactions, infrastructure and project finance.

Chakrabarti commented in the press release: “I’ve known the team at IndusLaw for some time now. It’s great to be joining a vibrant and ambitiouspractice and grow existing synergies.”

Chakrabarti could not be reached for comment at the time of going to press.

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

Clyde & Co Dubai aviation partner Sidanth Rajagopal joined the London office of Kaye Scholer with the same designation, reported Bar & Bench.

The ILS Pune alumnus, who had also briefly worked at Clyde’s Indian best friend firm Clasis Law, told B&B: “This was a fantastic opportunity to be part of a top rated Aviation Finance & Leasing Practice that is expanding its global reach.”

We have reached out to Clydes for comment.

Amarchand Mangaldas Mumbai partner Vandana Pai Bharucha has left the firm for health reasons.

Three co-founding equity partners of PXV Law Partners, Deepto Roy, Mohit Abraham and GT Thomas Phillippe, are set to join Khaitan & Co as associate partners by 1 August.

Amarchand Mangaldas Mumbai capital markets partner Abhimanyu Bhattacharya has left the firm on Saturday.

HSA Advocates has hired Abeezar Faizullabhoy as the firm's 14th partner, according to a press release from the firm.

Faizullabhoy was an equity partner at J Sagar Associates (JSA) until 2013, when he left to join Chennai-based ultra-mega power project Aditya Resources as CEO.

HSA has offices in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata and a "correspondent relationship in Bangalore", according to the statement.

BMR Legal has opened an office in Bangalore with two partners from Themis Associates and their six-member team of lawyers.

Fox Mandal Bangalore has acquired technology law firm White Forest Law Offices, which was started by Rajesh Vellakkat in 2002, to boost its tech and intellectual property expertise.

J Sagar Associates (JSA) Bangalore partner Promod Nair has started an independent arbitration practice.