Private equity (PE) boutique firm Lexygen advised TA Associates in acquiring a nearly 16 per cent stake in Luthra & Luthra’s clients Dr Lal PathLabs for Rs 163 crore by picking up half of Sequoia Capital’s stake in the diagnostics and pathology services company.

Krishnamurthy and Co, which is branded as K Law, has opened up a new Delhi office and moved into a larger Mumbai office, as well as setting up an expansion path in Chennai and commencing construction on a larger Bangalore office.

Khaitan & Co and US firm Vinson & Elkins advised Reliance Industries (RIL) in its $1.7bn acquisition of a 40 per cent stake in Pennsylvania-based Atlas Energy in a joint venture for the development of 300,000-acres of natural gas deposits.

Amarchand Mangaldas and Dorsey & Whitney have won the government’s mandate on the $1.8bn follow-on public offer (FPO) by Power Grid Corporation of India.

Nishith Desai Associates (NDA) and J Sagar Associates (JSA) have inked a joint venture (JV) between Reliance Broadcast Network and US TV giant CBS Studios International respectively to pave the way for the creation of three new television channels and Reliance group’s foray into the television broadcasting industry.

Senior advocate and parliamentarian Abhishek Manu Singhvi appeared for the Dua Associates-led group of US firms in the Chennai writ petition against 31 foreign law firms today, asking the court to adjourn until after the Bar Council of India (BCI) would take a decisive stance this weekend.

S&R Associates has landed the $9.6bn corporate takeover of long-groomed client Cairns India by UK mining giant Vedanta Resources, which was advised by AZB & Partners as Scottish firm Shepherd and Wedderburn and US firm Latham & Watkins stepped up internationally.

Latham & Watkins with S&R Associates and Shearman & Sterling with Amarchand Mangaldas’ Delhi and Mumbai office presided over the New York initial public offering (IPO) of India’s largest online travel agency MakeMyTrip, raising $70m and seeing record first-day trades.

FoxMandal Little and French international firm Gide Loyrette Nouel won the government’s mandate to take Manganese Ore (India) Ltd (MOIL) to its initial public offering (IPO) by putting in the lowest bid-price yet compared to recent disinvestments.

Norton Rose has failed to secure a work permit for one of its future trainees and has had to turn away a handful of Indian interns as the legal sector continues to grapple with the UK Border Agency’s (UKBA) points-based work permit system.

Norton Rose has advised Australian miner Linc on its sale a $3bn coal tenement in Queensland to a subsidiary of the Adani Group, which was advised by Australian firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth.

J Sagar Associates (JSA) has won a Bombay High Court order for its long-standing client MCX Stock Exchange, which ordered the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), which was represented by Mumbai law firm K Ashar & Co, to make a decision on whether to allow MCX to become a full-fledged stock exchange.

Bhasin & Co won a favourable verdict for its longstanding clients Apollo Hospitals that absolved the hospital company of any criminal liability for the individual negligent act of its doctor because mens rea or guilty intention cannot be ascribed to a company which is only a juristic person.

ARA Law has hired Kanga & Co partner Ashish Bhakta as a partner to head its infrastructure practice.

Supreme Court advocate K V Dhananjay along with a group of practising 2010 law graduates from Nalsar and NUJS have secured a three-pronged victory for godman Swami Nityananda, including restoring his passport that was impounded following his arrest after an alleged sex scandal involvement in April, and securing an injunction against the publication of a book and a police order.

Amarchand Mangaldas’ Delhi office and Dorsey & Whitney have won the bid on the Hindustan Copper divestment while Khaitan & Co bagged the underwriter’s mandate.

Amarchand also won the role for the underwriters on the mammoth Coal India stake sale with Ashurst as international counsel while Luthra had won the tender to advise the company.

Trilegal is awaiting a response from the Bar Council of India (BCI) on whether the firm is allowed to convert to a limited liability partnership (LLP) under the Advocates Act, as start-up Vidhii Partners vowed to convert to LLP in two months and Luthra & Luthra, Nishith Desai Associates, IndusLaw and at least eight other firms have reserved respective LLP names.

Amarchand, Luthra & Luthra, Khaitan & Co and Trilegal have all ramped up their basic starter pay above Rs 10 lakhs, with offered packages including bonuses now running up to Rs 15 lakh at the top end.

The government appears to have scrapped plans to move the Chennai writ petition against 31 foreign law firms to the Supreme Court, as law firms Dua Associates and Kachwaha & Partners alongside a raft of senior counsel appeared for nine US firms, Slaughter and May, the LPO Integreon, and two Australian firms.

The petitioner’s plea for an injunction against the foreign firms was stayed for two weeks until the government and foreign firms could formulate responses.

Luthra & Luthra jointly topped Legally India’s quarterly IPO league tables for the first time alongside Amarchand Mangaldas over the first quarter of the 2010-11 financial year with five mandates each while AZB & Partners slotted into third place.