Desai & Diwanji partner Shyam Pandya has joined as an associate partner of Economic Laws Practice (ELP) in its corporate, commercial, private equity and venture capital team in Mumbai, according to a press release from the firm.

RDA Legal has shut down and its founder, NUJS 2006 alumnus Rohit Das, is now focusing solely on counsel practice.

At a smaller meeting called by the commerce ministry on 1 September with legal industry stakeholders, including Society of Indian Law Firms (Silf), the Indian National Bar Association (INBA) and Bar Association of India (BAOI), the three Silf members present reiterated their position that foreign law firms, if they were to enter India, shouldn’t be allowed to hire Indian lawyers.

One of Link Legal India Law Services’ most senior partners, Anand Srivastava, has been sponsored by the firm to take a sabbatical for a year from partnership duties to pursue an LLM in the US, in a bid to specialise in disputes.

“Budget-hotel tech company Treebo has raised Series C funding of $34 million led by Hong-Kong based investment firms Ward Ferry Management and Karst Peak Capital. Existing investors SAIF Partners, Bertelsmann India Investments and Matrix Partners also participated in the round,” reported Your Story.

Bangalore-headquartered law firm Universal Legal and Mumbai firm IC Legal have merged into IC Universal Legal Advocates & Solicitors, to become a seven-office firm of more than 100 fee-earners, including 15 partners.

“Edtech platform Unacademy has raised series-B funding of $11.5 million (approximately Rs 73.6 crore) led by Sequoia India and SAIF Partners. Existing investors Nexus Venture Partners and Blume Ventures also participated in the round,” reported the Economic Times.

T&T Law managing partner Rohit Tandon is back in jail, having surrendered to the authorities on 6 September after his short interim bail on compassionate grounds was not extended by the Supreme Court.

IndusLaw added former K Law associate partner M Arun Kumar as a partner in its Hyderabad office, to bolster the firm’s local real estate and infrastructure practice.

Khaitan & Co partner Joyjyoti Misra will become the new India general counsel (GC) of global taxi 2.0 giant Uber, after the former Uber India GC Mohit Abraham moved to San Francisco in July to become legal director for regulatory and the Americas.

“B9 Beverages Pvt. Ltd has raised around $8 million from venture capital fund Sequoia Capital India Advisors, said Ankur Jain, founder of the company that sells the popular Bira 91 craft beer. With the latest round of funding from Sequoia Capital, B9 Beverages has so far raised around $30 million,” reported Mint.

Link Legal India Law Services corporate partner Harish Kumar - who had joined in July 2016 - has left the firm and is in the process of setting up new law firm HSK Legal, according to his Linked-in profile.

Realty Major DLF Limited has entered into an agreement to sell a stake of 33.34% in its rental arm, DLF Cyber City Developers Limited (DCCDL) to Reco Diamond Private Limited, an affiliate of the Singapore sovereign wealth fund, GIC Group, in a multi-stage transaction for an aggregate value of US$ 1.9 billion, as reported by VCCircle and Business Standard.

Luthra & Luthra made 11 new partners having promoted six partner designates and five managing associates, and elevated partner Bikash Jhawar to the firm’s executive committee, according to Bar & Bench.

“Monsanto is selling its branded cotton seeds business in India to Hyderabad-based Tierra Agrotech, although the US biotechnology major would remain invested in farming segments such as corn seeds, crop protection, vegetables and Bollgard II technologies,” reported the Economic Times.

Aparna Mittal, who had joined AZB & Partners in Delhi from Luthra & Luthra around 18 months ago, has left the firm, as first reported Bar & Bench.

HSA Advocates^ partner Megha Arora has moved back to J Sagar Associates (JSA), as partner, as first reported by Bar & Bench.

Phoenix Legal has hired Vasanth Rajasekaran as its 16th partner from Seth Dua & Associates in Delhi, where he had worked with co-founder Sunil Seth before his death in February 2017.

“A stake sale by DLF Ltd’s promoters to an affiliate of Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte Ltd will see capital infusion of nearly Rs 13,000 crore into India’s largest property developer,” reported Mint.

J Sagar Associates (JSA) newly promoted partner Sumit Sinha left the firm to join DMD Advocates as a partner in its corporate team in Delhi.