Bharucha & Partners is merging with Arthe Law, the Delhi-headquartered firm created by the joining of hands in April between Abhishek Malhotra-founded TMT Law Practice and DPSA Legal, the disputes practice of former additional advocate general DP Singh.

The merger will create a Mumbai-Delhi firm of 12 partners: MP Bharucha, Alka Bharucha, DP Singh, Abhishek Malhotra, Justin Bharucha, Vishnu Dutt, Vandana Pai, Arjun Anand, Deepak Biswas, Kaushik Moitra, Ajai Achuthan, and Sonam Gupta.

While MP Bharucha will be senior partner, it is understood that there will be no single managing partner or management committee in the merged firm that will operate under the Bharucha brand name and a single balance sheet from 1 November.

MP Bharucha commented in a statement that the two firms had been speaking for a while, adding: “In a short time, Arthe has built a very successful practice banking on the years spent by DP and Abhishek in their respective practices.”

NLSIU graduate and TMT founder Abhishek Malhotra said: “Justin and I went to Law School together and he, Alka and MP have known DP for a few years now. When the Arthe merger was announced, they were one of the first to congratulate us, and since then we have been working towards the merger.”

Alka Bharucha added: “This announcement is the precursor to our mission of client satisfaction, and other progressive and significant plans for both the near and distant future.”

Bharucha co-founder Vashi starts own firm

Also coinciding in time with the merger, Bharucha & Partners co-founding partner Vivek Vashi, who has been handling the majority of court-based litigation at Bharucha, will be starting a new firm focusing on litigation, arbitration, intellectual property, real estate and regulatory work.

Vashi commented in a statement: ‘“MP has been more than a mentor to me over the years. His teachings, ethics, integrity and wisdom will all hold me in good stead as I try and emulate all that he has achieved.”

MP Bharucha added: “Vivek has been a great support while we built B&P. When he moves on to build his own practice I am sure he will remain our friend.”

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas had hired Bharucha Delhi litigation partner Kapil Arora in May 2015.

Bharucha Arthe: How will the new family work?

In respect of Bharucha being a family-firm, MP Bharucha said: “The presumption that B&P is a family firm is divorced from reality. The accident of family ties cannot distract from the fact that all partners are leaders in their individual fields. B&P has always been a true partnership firm, working collectively while respecting individuality. Apart from the clear practical advantages, from the firm management point of view, the Partners coming in only add one more vote each from like-minded lawyers.

DP Singh added: “MP, Alka and Justin are all exceptional lawyers in their own right. If the firm just had MP and us, I would be hounding him to bring in the others! Their technical competence is par excellence. On a personal front, I am happy to be a part of the family just as much as they are to be a part of mine. Professionally, all of us are clear that we are partners of a premier law firm. If Abhishek or I had any doubts about this, we would not be here right now.”

MP Bharucha explained that the firm has recently discussed and articluated a collective vision, “common beliefs” and “articles of faith”, in terms of how to manage and run a law firm.

Justin Bharucha said that the Delhi and Mumbai offices would take the aid of technology to integrate:

Prior to this merger our Delhi office was completely in sync with our Mumbai office as regards all processes and systems, including IT systems. A majority of our IT infrastructure is on our own secure servers. So essentially, I could be sitting in Paris or Pune, and still be in sync with all our offices. With defined policies and procedures, we ensure that all our offices are subject to the same discipline. The task now is to instil in all our lawyers the one-firm concept. We believe in our lawyers and look forward to their helping the partners to actualise and implement the shared vision.

This news was first reported to Legally India premium subscribers earlier today via WhatsApp. Sign up below for more exclusive breaking news before they go public.