AZB & Partners has promoted the following six lawyers to partner in its Mumbai partnership:
- Roxanne Anderson (Symbiosis Pune 2009)
- Kashish Bhatia (NLU Jodhpur 2009) - had joined from Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas in May 2016, began career at Majmudar & Co and Phoenix Legal
- Rinki Ganguli (GLC Mumbai 2008) - had joined AZB as a paralegal in 2006
- Divya Mundra (Nalsar Hyderabad 2009)
- Rahul Rai (NUJS 2007), competition law - joined AZB in 2012 from Stanford Law School, began career at Economic Laws Practice (ELP)
- Arvind Ramesh (Nalsar Hyerabad 2005)
The greatest number - two - are graduates of Nalsar Hyderabad, with one each from NLU Jodhpur, GLC Mumbai, NUJS Kolkata and Symbiosis Pune.
The majority, other than competition lawyer Rahul Rai, specialise in M&A, private equity, banking and finance.
Comments
Without naming any names and going into detail, which are and should be confidential in any case at this point, I understand that no formal sexual harassment proceedings were started or are ongoing at the firm you referred to.
Also, for what it's worth and from what I can tell, I'm currently satisfied that the events relating to what you refer to have been dealt with in a fair manner so far, and there is no story here that should be reported by us at this point.
I understand that some may be reading this as evidence of a cover-up, either by us or the firm, or both, but all I can say for now on that front is that if there was a story that should be reported, I hope you can trust me to make the right call on that based on our previous reports relating to allegations of sexual harassment, and whether cases were formally filed or not.
That said, considering how sensitive and complicated such situations can be, and if facts available to me were to change, we would let you know and/or do a story if required. Likewise, if you or someone involved disagrees with my current assessment, we are always happy to talk in strict confidence, either on my usual phone number or email, while also respecting the person's wishes with respect to whether we can use the information given in a story or not.
Best,
Kian
The associate who is a first year has tried to complain twice now. [...] Formal proceedings not happening only for this
[...] Now if Legally India does not cover it some other news forum will. Mainstream or even BarBench. Every law firm seems to only be debating this. [...]
Right now, there's not much I can do via comments though unless I get some additional information, preferably on the phone so we can have a proper and frank discussion.
In short, if you or someone else reading this (who knows what this is about) actually has preferably first-hand information that it has not been handled fairly, please give me a call anonymously on 0900 405 6651 and I will be happy to talk and discuss options for moving forward.
@Ariya - please also share a surname, if you have it, and I'll try independently reaching out.
But ultimately, in my experience, stories such as this one, if there even is a story, will be hard if not impossible to pursue unless an alleged complainant comes forward and talks to us, so in the meantime, I think I'll put a pin in it and wait.
But when its a mighty firm like [...] you're as good as Nihalani's big brother.
Very convenient double standards.
The only thing this shows is that Kian is the pet poodle of [...] (he was already [...]'s lapdog so this is a promotion I guess).
Well, have a good bow-wow.
Would appreciate some examples please re naming and shaming law schools in stories that are not stood up or corroborated yet in any way...
Just an observation from the comments above, it appears that the complainant is a first year associate who has complained against a senior partner of a big law firm for allegedly sexually harassing him/ her. I agree that this could be generalization but do first years really get to interact with senior partners at such a level where it is possible that such an incident may occur? A fist year is barely 6-7 months old in the firm. Again this is just an observation and not any kind of character assassination.
I am sure if there is any merit in this allegation, the concerned people would have take this to the highest level and ensure justice for all.
And before you all troll me (as a prospective applicant to this law firm), bear in mind I am neither a lawyer and nor in anyway connected to the legal fraternity.
Now it's possible that counter-comments left here are intended to troll me and/or the firm in question, or they could reflect genuinely-held beliefs, they could be based on a misunderstanding of the facts, or they could actually have some genuine inside information.
As I said, for now I'm leaning on the side of this not being a story, but I'm happy to keep an open mind if some other evidence should come to light.
Regarding your first years / senior partner question - yes, first years do get to interact with partners. While there is a hierarchy in law firms, but they are small places, and if you are working on a deal together or whatever, you will bump into each other at times.
Feel free to post comments if you disagree for my personal information, but we most likely won't be publishing any further comments in this thread on this matter.
Ultimately, if you still disagree, the best way to take it forward would be to contact me directly by phone and we can have a confidential chat.
Best regards,
Kian
I believe, to the best of my knowledge though I'm not 100% on this, that they have a joint pool that they pay into to pay for things like joint branding, probably off-sites, and I would strongly assume, some common technology systems and the like such as email, document management, stationery, etc.
Again, this is not 100% confirmed, hence me having said "as far as I know", but the above would also make a lot of sense from a management perspective.
Do you know something different to that?
Once a nalsarite always a nalsarite
I don't like these judgy soothsayers commenting on your posts. They speak as if they are Zia Mody or Jhunjhunwala or Cyril Shroff