Former Khaitan & Co partner Gauri Rasgotra has rejoined the firm’s Delhi office after working for two years in the US as the head of the George Washington University Law School’s India Studies Center.

In the US Rasgotra (pictured) was responsible for developing and managing the department’s India-related activities, which included conferences, seminars and producing reports on legal issues affecting the US and India.

She said: “It is an exciting time to be back in India and I can understand developments within India in a broader perspective with the help of my experience in the US.

“My work at the George Washington University gave me exposure to an international work environment […] and an understanding of the US legal environment.”

Rasgotra first joined Khaitan & Co as an associate in 1995 and became a partner heading the litigation practice of the firm’s Delhi office in 2004. She continued as a partner until May 2006 when she began preparing for her move to the US.

Rasgotra was then engaged as the first director of the India Studies Center of the US law school from April 2007 to June 2009. She has now returned to Khaitan & Co in her previous role as head of the litigation practice.

Mumbai partner Rabindra Jhunjhunwala said: “It was part of the deal that when she would like to come back [to India] she would come back to us.

“She didn’t leave the firm to join another firm, she just had this opportunity she wanted to take up. So when she left, we let her go very amicably and we had a great relationship with her over the last two years.”

Jhunjhunwala said that Rasgotra had now re-joined the firm’s partnership, which consists entirely of equity partners.

The Delhi office of Khaitan & Co has 50 lawyers with around half of them active in the litigation team, said Gauri.