Exclusive: Jaipur-based corporate law firm Chir Amrit Law Chambers has relocated to a bigger office to gear-up for market opportunities in Rajasthan’s fast paced industrial growth and national law firms’ that have shown interest in opening offices in the region.

J Sagar Associates’ (JSA) Bangalore office has advised Volvo Bus Corporation in the buy-out of a 30 per cent stake of its Indian joint venture from partner Jaico Automobile Engineering, which hired AKS Law Associates.

Economic Laws Practice (ELP) has boosted its private equity and corporate practice with the hire of ARA Law partner Darshan Upadhyay under the new associate partner designation, which reduces the size of ARA’s partnership to one.

Crawford Bayley and Amarchand Mangaldas have been duking it out in the Bombay High Court on behalf of expelled Indian Premier League (IPL) team Rajasthan Royals and the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) respectively, with a ruling on an arbitrator’s interim relief expected this week.

Luthra & Luthra has promoted two lawyers in Delhi to partner and elevated 9 associates to the senior and managing associate rungs, with corporate seeing more than half of the action.

Amarchand Mangaldas has advised JSW Energy on its $422m (Rs 1,900 crore) acquisition of Canadian power company CIC Energy with a raft of international law firms.

DLA Piper’s new German hires and Khaitan & Co have advised photovoltaic company Gehrlicher Solar AG on its reported $5m+ joint venture with Indian green-tech company Greenforce Enviro, which was advised by Mumbai firm I&S Associates.

Exclusive: Phoenix Legal has moved to a new Delhi office with space for 40 as the firm is set to implement a new career development framework for its fee-earners.

AZB & Partners and US firms Foley Lardner and Baker & Daniels have advised on the Rs 450 crore ($100m) acquisition of US hair product company Namasté Laboratories by Dabur India’s US unit company Dermoviva Skin Essentials Inc.

Karanjawala & Company partner Manik Karanjawala is representing Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata who has approached the Supreme Court today about the Nira Radia tapes that he alleges violated his privacy, reported the Indian Express.

Exclusive: Trilegal has created a pure-play competition law practice after hiring former NLSIU Bangalore professor Rahul Singh and the six-month secondment of counsel Sakya Chaudhry in the competition practice of the firm’s best friend Allen & Overy (A&O).

Clifford Chance India head Chris Wyman has retired from the law after spending 16 months on secondment at the offices of Indian best friend AZB & Partners. Clifford Chance Singapore office head Geraint Hughes will succeed Wyman as India practice head.

DSK Legal and UK firm Stephenson Harwood have closed a Rs 1,000 crore ($219m) joint venture (JV) between JSW Steel and UK steel major Severfield this month.

The Mumbai offices of Amarchand Mangaldas and AZB & Partners have advised on the acquisition by India’s third-largest private sector bank Axis Bank of financial services businesses of Enam Securities Private Limited (Enam) for Rs 2,067 crore ($450m).

The Chennai writ petition against 31 foreign law firms was taken up today after having last been heard on 5 October but has again been adjourned to 25 January 2011 following the Central Government’s plea to seek broader consultation with foreign firms and an impending all India bar councils’ meeting.

Listed Indian software services company Zensar Technologies has bought Dutch-American software company Akibia for $66m, advised by Khaitan & Co and US firms Greenberg Traurig and Stahl Cowen Crowley Addis.

Titus & Co and Trilegal from Pool A and Luthra & Luthra and Dua Associates from Pool D have won against their respective opponents in the second round of the intra-pool matches played this weekend between Delhi law firms for the Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF) Cup in the TURF Twenty20 tournament.

The Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF) has re-elected its president Lalit Bhasin and elevated Ranji Dua, Rajiv Luthra and Zia Mody into the circle of senior vice presidents at its annual general meeting (AGM) on 20 November in Delhi, also formulating an agenda to reach out to young lawyers as the decade-old law firm representative body is looking to rebrand itself.

Denton Wilde Sapte, the UK legacy firm of SNR ­Denton, is suing the former head of its India group Gauri Advani, who is alleged to have been involved in an illegal act, reported The Lawyer magazine today.

Pangea3’s full acquisition by Thomson Reuters could trigger others to follow suit, predicted the legal process outsourcing (LPO) provider’s co-founder and CEO Sanjay Kamlani in an exclusive Legally India interview, as hundreds of employees will receive a windfall from the sale that will see Pangea3 explore synergies with its new parent and expand with onshore operations in the US.