Advaita Legal, the best friend law firm of Big Four consultancy KPMG, has hired Atul Dua, the erstwhile co-founding partner of Seth Dua & Associates.

Update 11:15: Advaita managing partner Sujit Ghosh commented that around 20 lawyers had joined with Dua, who is joining as the Advaita’s third equity partner, growing the total firm to 70 in size. This would add to Advaita’s already strong tax practice, where the “vast majority” of the firm’s partners and senior principals (equivalent to salaried partners) were operating.

“Our flagship was the tax practice and it continues to be so. This is an augmentation to the tax practice,” said Ghosh. “Now with this new team joining in, it will start its new journey.”

The firm is now 70 fee-earners strong, of which three are partners, six are senior principals, five are principals and two are senior attorneys.

Seth Dua as a standalone firm has struggled ever since the death of Dua’s co-founding partner Sunil Seth in February 2017.

This resulted in a protracted mediation between Dua and the family of his late partner, with Dua having approached the Delhi high court to unfreeze the firm’s bank accounts.

Seth Dua as a firm had floundered since Seth’s demise, with erstwhile merger start-up firm Alpha Partners - effectively the firm’s Noida office - demerging again as we reported in May 2017.

Seth Dua partner Vasanth Rajasekaran, meanwhile, was picked up by Phoenix Legal in Delhi in September.

It is understood that negotiations for Dua to join Advaita have been going on for more than a month, though Dua had repeatedly declined to comment when contacted about his joining since for the past three weeks.

According to an Advaita press release published by Bar & Bench, Dua will be joining with his team of Amit Mehta, Sushil Mehta and Subodh Sadana as senior principals.