partner hires

Exclusive: Khaitan & Co has hired a Delhi start-up founder and ex-J Sagar Associate (JSA) partner Abhilekh Verma into its partnership in Bangalore.

Exclusive: Hemant Sahai Associates has rebranded itself to HSA Advocates and hired two later partners, including one Herbert Smith senior associate and senior Delhi litigator Meenakshi Arora, taking the firm up to 10 partners.

Partners were concluding the counting of money this week only interrupted on Wednesday by the India-Pakistan game (wisely a half-day at many firms). But with the new year, slates clear, bonuses paid and promotions gained (and missed), the recent lull in lateral movements and legal entrepreneurship is likely to pick up again.

Exclusive: DSK Legal is parting ways with Delhi partners Gopika Pant and Piyoosh Gupta over strategic differences on future growth, with one more lateral partner set to join the firm in its new larger Delhi office space only several weeks after hiring a team 15 lawyers.

Exclusive: M Dhruva & Partners (MDP) has hired former J Sagar Associates (JSA) senior associate Dipali Sarvaiya Sheth as a corporate partner to edge towards full-service law firm status.

Paras Kuhad & Associates (PKA) Delhi disputes partner Ravi Prakash has joined DSK Legal with a team of 14 lawyers, almost doubling the size of DSK’s Delhi outpost.

Less than three-year-old firm RDA Legal has re-branded to PXV Law Partners and started an office in Mumbai by relocating its newly elected managing partner Rohit Das, while hiring three lateral senior associates from Amarchand, AZB and P&A as lockstep partners.

Majmudar & Co has hired Bharucha & Partners equity partner Rukshad Davar as a corporate, M&A and tax partner in Mumbai.

Khaitan & Co Mumbai has made two partner-level hires from Thakker & Thakker, which was closed at the end of last year by its founding partner in order to follow philanthropic pursuits full-time.

Private equity boutique Lexygen has taken on Yang Yen-Thaw, the Bangalore-based founder of Yang Lawyers, as a partner to relocate to its one-year-old Singapore office.

Economic Laws Practice (ELP) has boosted its private equity and corporate practice with the hire of ARA Law partner Darshan Upadhyay under the new associate partner designation, which reduces the size of ARA’s partnership to one.

Exclusive: AZB & Partners corporate and private equity partner Vaishali Sharma has joined Khaitan & Co’s Mumbai office, as AZB has stemmed a string of associate departures over recent months.

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

Khaitan & Co has hired its second full-time banking partner, with former Clifford Chance London and Singapore senior associate Devidas Banerji joining in Mumbai.

Majmudar & Co has hired former ING in-houser, Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) law officer and Ministry of Corporate Affairs-officer Abdul Rasheed as an associate partner in Bangalore, as well as taking on a principal in the Mumbai tax group.

EXCLUSIVE: Khaitan & Co has hired Symbiosis graduate Rajat Mukherjee as an “associate partner”, which is the first time a non-equity salaried partner has joined the firm under the revamped partnership structure.

Amarchand Mangaldas equity corporate partner Himanshu Narayan has resigned the firm to join Dua Associates in Delhi.

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.

Trilegal has hired its first full-time partner in Hyderabad with DS Associates' co-founder Pavan Kumar joining to take advantage of the recovering economy after the firm scaled down in the city during the global downturn.

Suman Khaitan's partnership firm Khaitan & Partners has replaced its ex-Kolkata office head Niloy Pyne who joined Amarchand Mangaldas last month, by hiring independent practitioner and former Amarchand senior associate Niladri Bhattacharjee as a partner to manage Kolkata.