Difference between revisions of "AZB & Partners"

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AZB & Partners

AZB & Partners is not an old-school firm by any stretch, having merged into what is now known as AZB in 2004, yet it has managed to create a certain dominance in the Indian corporate legal market. Indeed, the named partners Ajay Bahl, Zia Mody and Bahram Vakil, have built an M&A powerhouse that is engaged in almost every other big ticket deal. The legal services rendered by the firm cover the corporate, commercial, regulatory, financial and tax planning aspects of businesses.<ref> | Businessworld interview </ref>

Some of AZB's big name clients include the Tatas, HDFC, Bharti-Airtel and Reliance, as well as a cross-section of global and domestic private equity funds.

The firm's three founding partners also co-own a legal process outsourcing (LPO) joint venture with Patni Computers, called Bodhi Global. <ref>Global</ref>

Firm's history

After shifting her base from New York to Mumbai, Zia Mody started her litigation practice under the name CZM (Chambers of Zia Mody) in 1978. For the next 10 years she wore her band and gown to court but then started getting tired of all the adjournments. The Indian economy was opening up at that point and she started getting a lot of referrals from her friends abroad, advising people who wanted to invest in India.<ref>| In Conversation with Zia Mody </ref> Bahram Vakil, who knew Zia from their time in New York, decided to join hands with her and start a partnership in 2001, changing the name to CZB.<ref> | Opportunities sparse for US LLM degree holders</ref> Both of them realized the need to increase operations and start an office in Delhi, which brought in AZB's A, Ajay Bahl. Coincidentally, Ajay Bahl had interned with Soli Sorabjee, Zia's father, before he started his practice from his garage at Malcha Marg. In 2004 the three future AZB founders sat down and worked out the details of the partnership but there was no official document.^{Provide citation}

In 2009, AZB brought on board Bangalore firm Anup Shah and Associates with a specialization in real estate. The aim was to allow AZB to increase its presence in South India with offices in Hyderabad and Chennai. However, after one-and-a-half years Anup Shah's firm and AZB parted ways, partly because of conflicts caused by Shah's strength in real estate and AZB's portfolio of corporate client instructions. But both said they would remain 'best friends' in order to leverage each others core practice areas. <ref> | Breaking: AZB Bangalore merger Anup Shah splits off to go independent again </ref>

Short-lived international best friendship

AZB and Clifford Chance entered into a best friend relationship in January 2009.<ref>|Clifford Chance joins forces with Top Indian firm</ref> Clifford Chance said at the time that it had hoped to enter into the Indian market if it liberalised in several years, and for cross-border mergers Clifford Chance believed it was essential to have a tie-up with a top Indian firm. A strong incentive for AZB was that Clifford Chance would provide its lawyers with Clifford Chance in-house training and soft skill courses.<ref>| Best friends Relationship ends </ref>

In 2011, both firms broke off their best friend relationship; they said they would remain "good friends". The firms pulled the plug on the relationship because they both saw fewer referrals than expected and the chances of the Indian legal market liberalising had become negligible.<ref> | AZB Clifford Chance Breakup </ref>

Important Deals

In the past few years, AZB has vetted and drafted contracts and advising its clients on the finer details.

Tata Steel’s Singapore $486.4 million-acquisition of NatSteel in 2004
Aditya Birla group’s $6-billion acquisition of Novelis in 2007
Tata Steel’s $12-billion Corus deal in 2007
Tata Motors’ $2.4-billion purchase of Jaguar-Land Rover in 2008
In 2009 Tata - Docomo $2.7 Billion (Rs. 13,400 crore) deal.
Vedanta’s deal with Cairn India in 2010<ref>| Legally India deal report on Vedanta-Cairn</ref>
Bharti’s aborted bid for MTN and later its $8.97-billion deal with Zain in 2010<ref>|Legally India deal on Bharti Zain</ref>
Reliance Industries’ (RIL’s) $7.2-billion deal with BP in 2011<ref>| Legally India deal report on Reliance BP</ref>

Careers

Historically, AZB has focused less on direct campus visits and recruitment than other large Indian law firms, instead preferring to offer jobs via pre-placement offers (PPOs). However, in recent years, AZB has increasingly been visiting law school campuses, though it still recruits lower numbers directly from campus than other firms of a comparable size.

Recruitment figures for AZB in the 2010-11 academic year were:<ref>Legally India research</ref>

College Number of Students NLIU Bhopal 1 NLSIU Bangalore 1 NUJS Kolkata 2 HNLU Raipur 1 NALSAR Hyderabad 3 GLC Mumbai 1 Amity 1 Total 10

Partners

Name Designation Office Zia Mody Founding Partner Mumbai Ajay Bahl Founding Partner Delhi Bahram Vakil Founding Partner Delhi Anil Kasturi Partner Vinati Kastia Partner Delhi Gautam Saha Partner Shreyas Jayasimha Partner Bangalore Saikrishna Bharatan Partner Mumbai Sunila Awasthi Partner Allwyn Noronha Partner Delhi Suresh Varanasi Partner Delhi Vineetha Mg Partner Delhi Percival Billimoria Senior Partner Mumbai Anind Thomas Partner Abhinav Ashwin Partner Akhilesh Rai Partner Meera Singh Partner Delhi Ashwin Ramanathan Partner Mumbai Varoon Chandra Partner Mumbai Shameek Chaudhru Partner

Offices

Mumbai Express Towers 23rd Floor Nariman Point Mumbai 400 021 Phone No: +91 22 6639 6880

Bangalore No.67/4, Azb House, Near To Java City Restaurant, 4TH Cross, Lavelle Road, Bangalore - 560001 Phone No: +91 80 42400500

Delhi AZB HOUSE, PLOT NO A8, SECTOR 4, NOIDA 201 301 Tel: +91 1204 17 9999

Gurgaon AZB & PARTNERS 602, 6TH FLOOR, Tower - B UNITECH CYBER PARK SECTOR – 39, GURGAON 122001 Ph. +91 0124 4200296 /297

Pune Onyx Towers, 1101/B, 11th floor North Main Road, Koregaon Park Pune 411 001 Maharashtra India Tel: +91 20 6725 6666

Internships

Mumbai office

The Nariman Point office ensures the interns enjoy freedom and still get an insight into the firms working culture, stated an internship review on student website Lawctopus. The associates are friendly and extremely approachable. They also appreciate an intern’s opinion about a legal issue. There is autonomy however monitored by deadlines. An intern if serious can really engage in the work at the firm.

One should apply 5 to 6 months before the desired period of internship by emailing at recruitment.mumbai@azbpartners.com.

Stipend: Rs 3,000<ref>Internship Survey</ref>

Bangalore Office

Good work, great location and decent hours, said a reviewer. The workload depends on the team one is working with. But interns are not officially assigned to any team and have the liberty to ask anyone in the office for work. Though this may lead to no systematic workflow, the interns end up enjoying a variety of work. Stipend: Rs 2,500. <ref>Internship Survey</ref>

Rankings

RSG India

Consultancy RSG India ranked AZB & Partners as the second-best Indian law firm in 2011. It writes: "The three named partners are all well-respected, although in Mumbai Zia Mody still has a powerful profile. However, there is evidence that some of the younger lawyers are getting recognised by clients who are increasingly happy to instruct them, with Zia supervising from a distance."<ref>[1]</ref>

Legal 500

Legal 500 writes: "AZB & Partners’ ‘responsive and very commercial’ service represents corporates and banks on a range of financings. The team has  also acted on various Mumbai-led capital  markets transactions, including IPOs and bond issuances, for both issuers and underwriters.

"The ‘excellent’ team at AZB & Partners advised Bharti Airtel its $10.7bn acquisition of the pan-African operations of Zain from MTC Telecommunications. It also acted for Vedanta Resources on acquiring a controlling interest in Cairn India. Other clients include Reliance Industries, JFE Steel Corporation and Fortis Healthcare. Zia Mody is ‘outstanding’."

References

Related Pages

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 [[File:AZB & Partners.jpg|200px|thumb|right|AZB & Partners]]
-'''AZB & Partners''' is not an old-school firm by any stretch, having merged into what is now known as AZB in 2004, yet it has managed to create a certain dominance in the Indian corporate legal market. Indeed, the named partners [[Ajay Bahl]], [[Zia Mody]] and [[Bahram Vakil]], have built an M&A powerhouse that is engaged in almost every other big ticket deal. The legal services rendered by the firm cover the corporate, commercial, regulatory, financial and tax planning aspects of businesses.<ref> [http://www.gettingthedealthrough.com/organisations/16/azb-38-partners/] </ref>
+'''AZB & Partners''' is not an old-school firm by any stretch, having merged into what is now known as AZB in 2004, yet it has managed to create a certain dominance in the Indian corporate legal market. Indeed, the named partners [[Ajay Bahl]], [[Zia Mody]] and [[Bahram Vakil]], have built an M&A powerhouse that is engaged in almost every other big ticket deal. The legal services rendered by the firm cover the corporate, commercial, regulatory, financial and tax planning aspects of businesses.<ref> [http://www.gettingthedealthrough.com/organisations/16/azb-38-partners/ | Businessworld interview] </ref>
 Some of AZB's big name clients include the Tatas, HDFC, Bharti-Airtel and Reliance, as well as a cross-section of global and domestic private equity funds.