Without a doubt this service is providing the best and latest news from India’s legal market…
Concise and well presented the newsletter gives one a pretty good idea what’s going on at the local level at India’s up and coming firms.
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Here’s what they say in their December 4 roundup
For links to their stories you’ll need to go to.. http://www.legallyindia.com/
4 December 2009
JSA has seen a swap in two very hot practice areas: Khaitan & Co is starting up a competition law practice with JSA talent but in compensation JSA took AZB talent to kick off a direct tax practice.
Kaden Boriss was one of the first Indian firms to convert to limited liability partnership (LLP) this year, even before the implications were completely clear. Seven months later the firm has made up four partners and is happy. We have asked why.
Amarchand, meanwhile, has made itself and a UK lawyer happy, signing up Cleary partner and former Linklaters India head as a freelance international tax lawyer.
Nice for Amarchand and nice for Nikhil Mehta who will presumably get a good boost in starting up his new barristers practice with an Indian slant.
In Amarchand’s Delhi office lawyers with children will be able to take their kids to work and leave them at a new law firm cr?che. Although it closes at 7:30pm so someone will have to take the kids home come deal-time, this should be handy for parents and give a general warm feel-good glow to all Amarchand lawyers in cold Delhi.
Hyderabad on the other hand is hot and has plenty more space for law firms, so ARA Law is hoping to open an office there, which should be nice for both market and firm.
In Delhi there is space enough for 25 winners at the Bar Council elections but will Luthra & Luthra partner Vijay Sondhi be one of them now that polls have closed?
By contrast, one piece of news this week might not have more than one winner. The Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF) took the Government to court on behalf of all law firms that will have to pay service tax on their services.
If the law firms win, the most likely solution (short of scrapping the tax completely) will be to levy the 10 per cent tax on advocacy, which is currently exempt from the service tax.
Truly selfless then must be the advocates representing SILF and potentially arguing for making themselves more expensive in future. Such should be the noble profession!
Finally, if you feel that being a lawyer these days has not become as noble as it used to, become socially involved and take a leaf out of these lawyers’ books who are running a campaign of universal access to reading.
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The latest Legal Opinion has bank in-houser Sapan Gupta asking for lots of changes before the new Real Estate Act goes live.
Nalsar Hyderabad missed out on winning the eighth NLS Debate, losing to a Sri Lankan law school.
And in other competitive law school stakes, winning the international Space Moot made not just NLS Bangalore proud but also the nation. Read the team’s account here.
