One-and-a-half years after merging with Anup S Shah law firm in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai, AZB & Partners and Anup Shah and his firm have decided to part ways as “best friends”.

Luthra & Luthra has continued its Delhi-round of internal promotions taking the partner promotion tally to three this December with the latest promotion of managing associate J P Singh to an indirect tax partner.

Exclusive: Start-up Vidhii Partners has opened its second Mumbai office, branching out into Bandra with a media law practice headed by new partner and former UTV Motion Pictures legal head Nandini Mehta.

Exclusive: Jaipur-based corporate law firm Chir Amrit Law Chambers has relocated to a bigger office to gear-up for market opportunities in Rajasthan’s fast paced industrial growth and national law firms’ that have shown interest in opening offices in the region.

Economic Laws Practice (ELP) has boosted its private equity and corporate practice with the hire of ARA Law partner Darshan Upadhyay under the new associate partner designation, which reduces the size of ARA’s partnership to one.

Luthra & Luthra has promoted two lawyers in Delhi to partner and elevated 9 associates to the senior and managing associate rungs, with corporate seeing more than half of the action.

Exclusive: Phoenix Legal has moved to a new Delhi office with space for 40 as the firm is set to implement a new career development framework for its fee-earners.

Exclusive: Trilegal has created a pure-play competition law practice after hiring former NLSIU Bangalore professor Rahul Singh and the six-month secondment of counsel Sakya Chaudhry in the competition practice of the firm’s best friend Allen & Overy (A&O).

Clifford Chance India head Chris Wyman has retired from the law after spending 16 months on secondment at the offices of Indian best friend AZB & Partners. Clifford Chance Singapore office head Geraint Hughes will succeed Wyman as India practice head.

The Chennai writ petition against 31 foreign law firms was taken up today after having last been heard on 5 October but has again been adjourned to 25 January 2011 following the Central Government’s plea to seek broader consultation with foreign firms and an impending all India bar councils’ meeting.

Titus & Co and Trilegal from Pool A and Luthra & Luthra and Dua Associates from Pool D have won against their respective opponents in the second round of the intra-pool matches played this weekend between Delhi law firms for the Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF) Cup in the TURF Twenty20 tournament.

The Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF) has re-elected its president Lalit Bhasin and elevated Ranji Dua, Rajiv Luthra and Zia Mody into the circle of senior vice presidents at its annual general meeting (AGM) on 20 November in Delhi, also formulating an agenda to reach out to young lawyers as the decade-old law firm representative body is looking to rebrand itself.

Denton Wilde Sapte, the UK legacy firm of SNR ­Denton, is suing the former head of its India group Gauri Advani, who is alleged to have been involved in an illegal act, reported The Lawyer magazine today.

Exclusive: Delhi law firm Zeus Law Associates has expanded with a second office in the National Capital Region (NCR) area, opening a branch office in Gurgaon to leverage infrastructure development and SEZ related market opportunities.

Responding in writing to a question in the Indian parliament law minister Veerappa Moily stated that there were no proposals to allow foreign firms into India.

Exclusive: Kochhar & Co has lured senior independent litigator J Sivanandaraaj into its Chennai office as a senior partner with the firm putting its faith in Tamil Nadu as the source of India’s future manufacturing miracle.

Discussions to allow foreign law firms to operate in India were dropped during US President Barack Obama’s state visit to India, said two US law firm partners who were part of the delegation.

Exclusive: DSK Legal will split across North and South Mumbai and move out of Nariman Point’s Express Towers after securing office space in the Lower Parel Indiabulls Centre, which also houses three other law firms.

Exclusive: Entrepreneurial ambitions have encouraged three partners from Universal Legal, Dua Associates and Paras Kuhad Associates to start a new law firm in Chennai under the banner Vichar, which in Sanskrit means idea, thought or opinion.

Attorney General of India Goolam Vahanvati was conflicted out of providing the government with a legal opinion on the Vedanta-Cairns deal because his son AZB & Partners Mumbai partner Essaji Vahanvati had worked on the deal, according to a report in the Daily Pioneer today.