Luthra & Luthra partner Santanu Mukherjee, who is head of international trade and policy advisory at the firm and had joined less than a year ago, has announced he’d leave Luthra to apparently go independent.

As first reported by us in October when battle lines were first being drawn, Desai & Diwanji is continuing to represent ousted Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry, who has now, via his company Cyrus Investments, filed in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) against Tata Sons, with Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas also having been roped in to advise the Tatas.

The Rs 13.56 crore reportedly recovered in a police raid from the office-cum-residence of T&T Law’s managing partner Rohit Tandon allegedly “belonged to” Kolkata-based businessman Parasmal Lodha, who according to News18 was detained “earlier” (no exact time was specified) at the Mumbai airport.

Delhi boutique indirect tax firm Nitya Tax Associates, which was started in June 2015 by ex-BMR Associates indirect tax head Puneet Bansal, has hired Shiva Nagesh from the DLF Group as its second partner.

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas’ Mumbai partner Ashish Jejurkar, who was hired in 2009 from Luthra & Luthra, will be leaving the firm and moving to Japan, as first reported by Bar & Bench.

Luthra & Luthra has hired Bharat Chugh as a counsel in Delhi, according to its press release as reported Bar & Bench.

PDS Legal lost 10 lawyers and four support staff in its direct tax practice after they followed former PDS partner Deepak Chopra to AZB & Partners, effective 1 December.

J Sagar Associates (JSA) partner Amit Kapur was elected senior partner-to-be by JSA’s equity partners at a meeting in Chennai today.

Juris Prime, which had demerged from Kochhar & Co in Hyderabad last year after four years, merged with the litigation practice of Raja Shekar that operated as Salvaji Legal.

Asian Legal Business (ALB) magazine last month released a listing of Asia’s biggest law firms, including a round-up of the 25 largest Indian firms by total headcounts.

The Bar Council of India (BCI) cannot be relied upon to take the legal services liberalisation process forward, said NLU Delhi vice chancellor (VC) Ranbir Singh on Saturday.

T&T Law Offices in Delhi’s GK-I was raided by a joint initiative of the Delhi police’s crime branch and the income tax department, which found Rs 13.56 crore in cash in new and old currency notes, according to NDTV and the PTI.

Gautam Khaitan, the managing partner of OP Khaitan & Co, has been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) again for alleged graft in the Choppergate scam, this time together with former Air Force Marshal SP Tyagi and Tyagi’s cousin, reported the The Indian Express and others.

The range of salaries at India’s law firms is wider than ever, with a 10-year PQE (post qualification experience) lawyer on remuneration (including bonuses) potentially ranging all the way from Rs 25 lakh per annum to Rs 200 lakh, according to salary data from four legal recruitment consultants compiled by Legally India.

Essar Power general counsel (GC) Sumant Nayak will be joining Desai & Diwanji as a partner in Mumbai.

“With his extensive experience in corporate law at the head of Singapore’s largest law firm, Mr Lucien Wong will provide a fresh perspective when he takes over as Attorney-General in January, lawyers said yesterday,” reported The Straits Times about the country’s “first A-G who has not spent time on the Bench or at the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC)”.

Weil Gotshal & Manges associate Nitin Konchady, who is a 2006 graduate of NLSIU Bangalore, has been promoted to partner in the London banking department’s Europe-focused high yield debt practice area in a partnership promotion round of 13, according to the firm’s press release.

DH Law added intellectual property (IP) lawyer Hasit Seth to set up an IP and Technology vertical for the firm, as a partner in Mumbai.

Luthra & Luthra has moved its Bangalore office from the Ulsoor Road area to the third floor of Onyx Center on Museum Road, reported Bar & Bench, with space for 40 lawyers.

TRA managing partner Anirudh Rastogi has advised on a so-called satellite launch contract for Team Indus, which is the only Indian team competing for the Google-sponsored Lunar XPRIZE, which has set aside $20m for the first 90% privately-funded company to land a robot on the moon and send video footage of its 500m drive on the lunar surface back to earth.