AZB & Partners

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AZB & Partners

AZB & Partners is not an old-school firm by any stretch, merging 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 managed to create 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 modern businesses.<ref> [1] </ref>

Some of AZB's big name clients include the Tatas, HDFC, Bharti-Airtel and Reliance.

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>

Evolution of the Brand

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 the A of AZB, Ajay Bahl. Coincidently 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 of them sat down and worked the details of the partnership but there was no official document.

In 2009, AZB brought on board Anup Shah and Associates with a specialization in real estate and allowing AZB to increase it's presence in South India with offices in Hyderabad and Chennai. However after one and a half years both of them decided to part ways and stay '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>

Best Friend Relationship

AZB and Clifford Chance entered into a 'best friend relationship' in 2009.<ref> |Clifford Chance joins forces with Top Indian firm</ref> Clifford Chance realized the importance of entering the Indian market with the hope of liberalization in a few years. Also for cross-border mergers it is essential to have a tie-up with a top Indian firm. A strong driver for AZB to enter the arrangement was to provide its employees with the Clifford Chance courses and soft skills.<ref> | Best friends Relationship ends </ref>

In 2011, both the firms broke off their 'best friend relationship' to stay 'good friends'. Both the firms saw fewer referrals than expected and the negligible chances of the Indian legal industry getting liberalised.<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
• Tata Steel’s $12-billion Corus deal in 2007
• Tata Motors’ $2.4-billion purchase of Jaguar-Land Rover
• Aditya Birla group’s $6-billion acquisition of Novelis
• Bharti’s aborted bid for MTN and later its $8.97-billion deal with Zain
• Reliance Industries’ (RIL’s) $7.2-billion deal with BP
• Vedanta’s deal with Cairn India.
• In 2009 Tata - Docomo $2.7 Billion (Rs. 13,400 crore) deal.
• The firm was the Indian legal adviser to Reliance Industries in a deal that involved BP taking a 30 per cent stake in 23 oil and gas production sharing contracts that Reliance operates in India<ref>India deal story, February 2011</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 also 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.<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 Percivel 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: 22 6639 6880

Bangalore No.67/4, Azb House, Near To Java City Restaurant, 4TH Cross, Lavelle Road, Bangalore - 560001 Phone No: 080-42400500

Delhi AZB HOUSE, PLOT NO A8, SECTOR 4, NOIDA 201 301 Tel: 01204 17 9999

Gurgaon AZB & PARTNERS 602, 6TH FLOOR, Tower - B UNITECH CYBER PARK SECTOR – 39, GURGAON 122001 Ph. + 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 Fax: +91 20 6725 6600

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 3000<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>

Email Addresses: TBC Email: divya.mundra@azbpartners.com, recruitment.mumbai@azbpartners.com, rinki.ganguli@azbpartners.com (Mumbai) Email: hardeep.sachdeva@azbpartners.com, sudha.r@azbpartners.com (Delhi) Email: bangalore@azbpartners.com (Bangalore)<ref>[2]</ref>

Rankings

RSG India in 2010 says,"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>[3]</ref>

According to 2011 ranking RSG ranked AZB & Partners at the second position.

Legal 500:

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

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Related Pages

• Indian law firms
• Salary table