The Supreme Court today finished hearing counsel in the Bar Council of India (BCI) petition against the practice of law by foreign lawyers in India, in a hearing that began in the morning and reconvened at 3pm to finish only by nearly 5:30pm.

Tata Sons former general counsel (GC) Bharat Vasani, has completed the handover of reins at India’s largets conglomerate’s parent company, and will be retiring from tomorrow.

Trilegal has decided to close its Hyderabad office and to service existing clients from Bangalore, after its only partner in the city, Pavan Kumar, has decided to go independent. We have

The only partner in Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas’ Hyderabad office, Harita Rao, has given notice last month.

Luthra & Luthra partner Dipti Lavya Swain has joined Azure Power as general counsel (GC).

IDFC Alternatives director legal and compliance Rajesh Chavda is set to leave the investment fund by 28 February.

Trilegal Delhi corporate, M&A and private equity counsel Vishwanath Pratap Singh has left the firm several weeks ago and is understood to be joining Luthra & Luthra as a partner in Delhi.

Senior advocate Harish Salve helped the Delhi high court approve, but not yet notify, a set of new rules which would enable it to impose a staggering and unprecedented amount of costs on litigants filing frivolous cases before it, encourage video-conferencing trials and reduce litigation time in other ways.

Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan (LKS) Delhi-based partners Abir Roy and T Sundar Ramanathan have left the firm to start-up an independent firm in collaboration with former LKS senior partner S Seetharaman, who left the firm in October.

Bangalore-based fintech company BankBazaar in October concluded over 100 days of negotiating an investment transaction, pulling in $30m from London-based credit agency giant Experian and others, as reported by Techcrunch.

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) Delhi partner Piyush Mishra, who had been hired in 2015 from Luthra & Luthra, has resigned the firm and is understood to in advanced talks to be joining AZB & Partners.

In the latest bi-annual rankings compiled by consultancy RSG India, AZB & Partners has topped the table ahead of Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (SAM) and Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM), which had topped the table in 2015 when still united in one firm as Amarchand Mangaldas before their break-up (see full table below).

Former Vaish Associates indirect tax head Shilpa Sharma, who had left the firm in April, has joined the Inox Group as legal advisor.

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) has significantly underbid competitors Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (SAM) and Luthra & Luthra to win the final rounds of blind bidding for the mammoth strategic Air India disinvestment, quoting Rs 29.9 lakh ($46,100) in fees for what is expected to be a complex series of corporate M&A deals, said sources with knowledge of the bid.

Bharucha & Partners is merging with Arthe Law, the Delhi-headquartered firm created by the joining of hands in April between Abhishek Malhotra-founded TMT Law Practice and DPSA Legal, the disputes practice of former additional advocate general DP Singh.

Former Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas partner Nikhil Naredi, who resigned around April 2017, will join Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas soon, according to several authoritative sources, although nothing has been signed yet pending expiry of Naredi’s near-six months of gardening leave from his former firm to date.

Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan (LKS) equity partner of 17 years S Seetharaman left the firm today to pursue other interests while continuing to practise independently.

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas is set to absorb all BMR Legal partners in Gurgaon, Mumbai and Bangalore but one - founding partner Mukesh Butani.

J Sagar Associates (JSA) partner Amit Kapur was elected senior partner-to-be by JSA’s equity partners at a meeting in Chennai today.

The range of salaries at India’s law firms is wider than ever, with a 10-year PQE (post qualification experience) lawyer on remuneration (including bonuses) potentially ranging all the way from Rs 25 lakh per annum to Rs 200 lakh, according to salary data from four legal recruitment consultants compiled by Legally India.