Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas will hire senior AZB & Partners Delhi partner Percival (Percy) Billimoria to head up its Delhi office and national litigation practice, according to three authoritative sources.
It is understood that he will also be part of Cyril Amarchand’s management committee.
Billimoria specialises in litigation, with a particular focus on commercial disputes, competition law and corporate disputes.
He is also chair of AZB’s Delhi litigation practice.
Billimoria had joined the law firm of Ajay Bahl in 2000 (before it merged with the Chambers of Bahram Vakil and Zia Mody in Mumbai) as a partner, having practiced independently and at Arthur Andersen & Co as a chartered accountant.
We have reached out to Billimoria, Cyril Amarchand managing partner Cyril Shroff, and AZB Delhi managing partner Ajay Bahl for comment.
Update 22:15: Ajay Bahl commented: “We wish Percy the best.”
His hire, which has not yet been announced internally at AZB, follows the highly likely upcoming move of Cyril Amarchand national competition head Nisha Kaur Uberoi to AZB in Mumbai, and the departure of three Cyril Amarchand Delhi litigation partners – Neeraj Sharma, Alok Tiwari and Seshagiri Vadlamani - earlier this month.
To be updated.
Comments
Percy has told everyone he wants to be a Senior Advocate so even if he joins it will be for a short time. [...]
1. CAM Delhi office - this gives them a senior litigator, someone experienced in law firm management (and hence a Delhi head), and a competition lawyer, all in one. All of these were sorely lacking before.
2. It's a gamechanger for CAM culture, being able to attract someone so senior into the fold, as well as strategy, having someone non-family to manage Delhi. This is similar to the SAM strategy of hiring Chudasama in Mumbai, which has worked out pretty well for them so far.
3. It's also a massive move for AZB - he's a very senior partner there and very well known in litigation.
4. He's also very well connected in the Delhi market and can make some rain, possibly cross-selling to the transactional guys there, which will be welcome for CAM.
Not sure about senior advocate ambitions and when/if they will materialise, which is of course a risk, though he may be around for a couple of years, which CAM Delhi needs right now.
Still disagree?
"He's also very well connected in the Delhi market "
"someone experienced in law firm management "
Lol Kian, your statements are so funny. You have never worked with Percy, never worked at AZB Delhi, never worked at any Indian law firm, or the indian legal market and yet you make these sweeping generalisations as if you're the cat's whiskers.
Except for editing gossip and censoring comments and inserting a smiley every now and then (an online version of a foolish grin) what locus standi do you have to say Percy is or is not "well connected" or "experienced in law firm management".
(@_@)
I hope you get my point. Percy may or may not be "well connected" but till you become his colleague or boss or a practising lawyer who moves around in those circles making statements like these just makes you look bad.
and believe me, i have worked with him!
best,
in store for CAM....
this indeed is BIG!!!
In Delhi circles, hardly any one decisively better than Percy Billimoria!
Quite simply amazing.
We will miss you.Hope our paths cross once again
Regards,
Wish i could more time with you Sir.
Anyways, Percy Sir, will miss you.
You are and will truly remain an inspiration!
There must be some pressing reasons for him to leave...generally after such a long ininings people tend to stick..
looking forward, thanks for your time and pipe dreams !
Anyways, will come and see you one of these days. All the very best and always!
Best
NPH from Okhla
frankly, he was articulate and methodical
when i chatted with him post hearing, he was very kind to me
didn't look like he was in transition
Will surely bring in the gravitas which CAM actually needs at present.
Being part of a busy if not the busiest anti-trust team in the town, must say he is a formidable opponent. Our entire team watched and most of us were like, wow!
he is already giving tough time to many seniors. Personally, i don't think elevation changes anything immediately. An effective available and ethically oriented arguing counsel is what the clients are looking for these days. Everything else is a tag.
Wish big people acted big and didn't seek sadistic pleasure through comment section...
Cease and desist, Maam!!!
Hope all of his core bunch moving along!
They will be in for a very special treatment n butchering otherwise!
frankly, behavioural work/enforcement a far serious business than any filings and both have roots and get sorted out visiting Delhi.
best,
216
Leave IT/url issues for the technocrats...
As far as law/legal work n transaction work is concerned, it's one thing to be in good books of a subjective promoter and quite another to create a niche for yourself, generate work despite the indifferent founders and not due to help from them.
A few experts are so sublime and true to their class that they don't need to spend a lifetime in developing a practice area and make a name for themselves in a short span.
Percy Billimoria is that quintessential all rounder!
Greetings from NewYork! And all the very best for your new project, Percy.
Looking forward to catch up shortly.
Ben Richards
Pretty much all of Percy s clients are his own and they make for a major chunk of the revenue of azb delhi. All the so called delhi stars you mention are acolytes of ajay bahl - percy on the other hand always held is own with grace and charm EQ and IQ. Excellent client handling skills and the ability to bring in fabulous clients.
A name grows big by working hard and develop something while being there!
Knowing him, Percy will help everybody deserving.
Btw,if am not mistaken, cricket nets are bigger n better right opposite his new place in another sprawling farm...thanks to good help from Delhi Kotla curator n other Ranji level pros...
No compromise in quality Darling, you see!
Feel free this Sunday itself...don't make it very late...it does get hot n all the coaching n support staff leaves early!
There is nothing to be build from the ground and nothing he didn't build while spending those long hard n toiling years at AZB.
Ye le, happy now? Shanti mili?
What is the point of showing grace when you don't mean it?? There is no grace in departures Johny boy. Everry big loss hurts
1. Both CAM and AZB Delhi are family run firms. Ajay Bahl's son and daughter in law are also projected to be the next gen leaders.
1A. AZB Delhi has become very top heavy where there are a host of high-paid salaried partners who have little rainmaking abilities. Therefore, the burden of getting business falls squarely on AB, and his quartet of Gautam Saha, Anil Kasturi, Madhurima Mukherjee and Hardeep. Vinati is, for a long time now, in a of-counsel role.
2. Percy may be a good rainmaker but is not known as a litigator - not like Ciccu or Nanju Ganpathy or Balbir Singh. The simple reason for that is that he has only recently, in last two-three years, started doing lit which is evidenced from the low number of cases reported and very few where he himself has argued. But that doesn't mean he is not a great rainmaker - he has a mixed bag of skillsets, good people skills and good connections.
3. Many foreign firm partners are presently in India to explore possible JVs since it's an open secret that September is when the doors will be actually opened to foreign law firms. So there could be invisible hands behind the high level poaching that we are currently witnessing.
4. Mid-size Indian firms will be the biggest beneficiaries of the present churn and for positioning themselves as good targets for foreign firms.
God bless India if all law firms had 'rainmakers' like the one you mentioned!
Coterie members/drawing room council blessed with a timely alliance with Zia Mody and successfully seeking her pardon at the time of an imminent parting away are called 'plain lucky' and not rainmakers.
All of us here know that Percy has fed work/referrals to most of the rain-fakers you idolise including the lit partners colleague.
No wonders you think that mid-size law firms will be the prime beneficiaries when the market opens for foreign law firms !!!
A good mix of marquee clients i.e. the biggest international names engaged in disputes/arbitration in India is better than working for non-timers.
Btw, all the very best with your legendary and well known rainmakers and mid-size law firms being the first target of foreign law firms. Wow!
Anything interesting cooking that u might wna share?
Delhi has an imp. role to play in litigation, reg n pol, policy advocacy etc. and that's where the USP of Delhi lies.
Problem is that some local big and old order firms/promoters are so insecure that instead of feeling confident abt themselves, they tend to put down n underplay the new developments and industry movements sometimes by disclosing financial info known bcoz of earlier relationships.
Time will indeed tell you that it ran out totally while you were busy trying to pull down others!
Let me try to be another self proclaimed expert here and make few comments:
1. Percy's hire is driven by Delhi needs and not revenge. Ashwath's loss is being worked on- hopefully CAM can recover.
2. Almost entire team that reported to Ashwath is leaving, no surprises there. Doesnt make anything worse than it already was.
3. Deal flow in CAM has actually improved even without Ashwath. No chests thumped yet though.
4. CAM need to urgently fix remuneration gaps before they bleed more.
5. Bashing cam unnecessarily is childish. They still have enough fire power.
Vandana and rishab scouting for big hires in the mumbai mkt ever since Rau departure became imminent, should be closed soon and the revenue gap plugged. Watch this space cowboy!
Billing is not everyhing, being biggest with deep bench strength is the way to go to take on more work.
He'll take the lead.
Ashwath and Nisha leaving cannot be the end of cam. Cyril Shroff made Nisha and Ashwath who they are. Nisha failed in delhi remember ? she services clients of the firm (to her credit - she does a good job). Samir gandhi on the other hand, built his own practice in AZB delhi. Cyril Shroff is a legendary lawyer and managing partner - two partners who he trained wil not decide his fate.
Remember, irrespective of the month n year in whih they take the plunge, it won't be easy cakewalk for them in a saturating and maturing legal landscape like India.
And in any case, they have no practice area dealing with wedding booking for sangeet and mehendi.
Percy Billimoria will focus on what he does best.
And you should fine tune your dholak thumping skills for the ensuing wedding season which is usually post september. By then, foreign law firms would have overlooked your weird sangeet practice fixation/expertise.
As an aside, is Percy keeping his farmhouse? Having visited the place a couple of times, I approve of his domain, although his neighbours complain he has boundary issues. ;) But otherwise, a very nice chap indeed! Somewhat of a setback to AZB Delhi for sure.
1. Nisha is(was) a great partner, and for Cyril, she had the right ambitions and the skills to formidably challenge the family fortress of SAM. Her exit will no doubt would have left Cyril with serious introspection to do. Its wrong to say that Cyril mistreated/ underestimated her. On the contrary, he trusted her way too much, gave her a lot of autonomy and reposed her faith in her time and again. But she was always Ashwath's to take considering she was in his team for the longest time before she made partner.
2. Nisha is undoubtedly a client-puller. She may have been heavily dependent on the corporate practice for merger control which is indeed the cash-cow; however, she has big clientele of her own when it comes to enforcement. She has had an extremely well articulated and trained team to back her. Her not taking clients would be an understatement, as there are certain clients who will follow her blindly.
3. Clients came for the team's methodical and dynamic approach to competition problems. The news that her team might leave should be a worry for Cyril more than Nisha alone leaving. She took care of her team very well (for most part) who reposed her faith with outstanding quality work.
4. [...] Cyril and the HR have a task cut out to find a suitable replacement that will help CAM pose a challenge to SAM and now AZB.
5. The entry of Percy sir brings in a sea of change. From what I hear, Cyril has a special plan in place. He's bringing in a foreign business development team, setting tight targets for partners, and a more ruthless approach towards client attraction and retention.
6. Insofar as Percy sir's skills are concerned, there is a huge buzz about him in the Delhi Bar as being very shrewd. He's known within the firm as a masterful client facing attorney. His anti-trust practice may be recent, but it is as good if not better than any Band 1 practice.His argumentative skills will only take him to greater heights in the coming days.
In conclusion, Cyril has lost his Horse and an Elephant on the battleboard, but he's knocked off a Bishop off Zia's board, and this will be an interesting game ahead.
Ex-sCAMmer and ex-blAZBian.
And last but the best, the most blessed, the most loved,the new headless of head with renowned 'double entry book keeping' expertise i.e a real grandmaster who has finetuned and turned "parallel book keeping" and "parallel invoicing" into a highly skilled art form.
Truly, His Master's Voice!
2. Percy is coming in as National Disputes Head - this is why the disputes head was not announced. VP, Shaneen, Sharad, Gauri etc will report to Percy.
3. Nisha is the National Competition Head - now Percy is being projected as part time competition.
Given Percy sings, paints, writes plays, does 2 month vacations, play cricket and will have to deal with Vandana when will he work on 1-3 above? Also, half the comments in the Percy article are about Nisha - her leaving is clearly making a BIG impact!
Percy coming in will be a great boost to the practice.
The Delhi office will eventually become a money spinner - it needs time to get moving like all new ventures.
Sadly people who are quick to judge either didn't make the cut or are just plain and simple envious of the fact that an edifice has been created ... And they are simply sitting like lonely monkeys on a tree watching everyone while some are monkeys on the post- egging a controversy simply because they have nothing better to do with their time.
Time and patience. That's the name of the game.
Good decisions and bad decisions are all part of bieng human. To sit on the fringes and judge without knowing the correct state of things is for lack of better worlds- Stupid and immature.
Also, when your comment was posted, had to check that the rumour was actually a 'genuine' rumour rather than just a completely made up rumour. Now, I don't know whether it's true, but yes, it's a rumour that's genuinely going around with a few people.
Fake outrage aside, it should be easy to verify this no?