Saionton Basu has joined Platinum’s Delhi office as an associate from White & Case, where he was an associate in M&A and infrastructure for two-and-a-half years.
Basu had trained at Amarchand Mangaldas before moving to London.
Commenting on his return to India he said: “I always intended to focus on India as a sector [and] moving back to India was keeping my long term career goals in mind.”
Platinum has also hired three recent graduates from Government Law College Mumbai and National Law Institute Universities in Bhopal and Jodhpur.
The firm’s founding partner Karam Daulet-Singh said: “As far as law schools go, my experience has been that toppers - i.e. in the top five - from any of the top five to seven law schools make for really good new recruits.”
Platinum currently has a total of sixteen lawyers across its offices, with two partners based in Delhi and one in Mumbai.
Basu has already started working at the firm and the new law school recruits are set to swell the fee-earner numbers by almost 20 per cent.
White & Case was not available for comment.
Comments
However, I think that associate and junior hires can be as interesting and important as partner hires, especially if they result in a small firm increasing in size by a quarter.
I would also like to reiterate that we aim never to publish thinly veiled advertisements as editorials.
But please do call us to account whenever you disagree.
And on a general note, yes, please do not make personal comments about lawyers mentioned in stories. We will generally try not to moderate any comments unless we are requested to do so or they are overtly defamatory. But please exercise restraint.
Ps: Contrary to popular belief, press releases are still very rare from Indian law firms but in any case we will try to avoid rehashes. Again, please let us know if you disagree.
I have been reading articles on your website for sometime now, but have never commented before. I would like to congratulate you for doing a brilliant job with this concept of your's. Legally Inida is the only reading material which provides informaton about all law firms from big to small and I hope you carry on with this holistic approach. Your website is the only way one can know about current happenings, lawyer transfers, new deals etc. And what is really commendable is your ability not to neglect the smaller firms.
Mr 240 you should go check up the definition of advertisement first before commenting.
For your information, the top rank from NLIU joined up at Platinum -clearly this is not for the want of options. The lawyer had numerous options open to her in India and abroad and chose Platinum. Says a lot about Platinum's prestige and the quality of associates.[/quote]
LOL you must be one of her favourite students going to your 4th year now. LOL. Got no work at your internship?
The problem with comments on websites are that they are normally anonymous and it could very well be the case that lawyers from Platinum are themselves posting comments here praising themselves.
An otherwise intelligent debate about the utility of news of transfers has been ruined by this person. Maybe 240/253 should offer themselves for public scrutiny and have everyone judge for themselves, why what they say counts.
The comment about lawyers praising their own firms vide posts, well I dont think any practising transaction will have so much time or think it important to do so. I am student, so have all the time in the world.
For your information, the top rank from NLIU joined up at Platinum -clearly this is not for the want of options. The lawyer had numerous options open to her in India and abroad and chose Platinum. Says a lot about Platinum's prestige and the quality of associates.
and Kian - thanks for the response to 240 and trying to maintain objectivity while reporting the news on this portal, thats the most we would ever want, thanks! and also, its refreshing to see that the comments are not being censored/ moderated...
http://www.whataboutclients.com/archives/2009/06/revisited_anony.html
Please note that I have no vested interest in what I have said before. I do not really care what any firm does or the reputation it has. What I have written above is purely out of personal experience. What I also know for a fact is that when new firms make a name for itself in a short frame of time, the Big Firms (the one in which I work ) do get insecure quite often.
Also, I didnt find anything which suggested there was any great achievement in the new hires, all the report said was that the firm is expanding. And even if it were, whats wrong with that? I have read several other articles on the web about so and so coming back from US/London and joining so and so law firm in India as a partner or as an associate. And on second thought, how many firms in India actually hire only the creamy layer from top colleges in India? And if Platinum managed to do it, then it is an achievement in itself.
We all know that many lawyers who had been working with foreign law firms abroad have recently shifted back to India. While many were lucky to find jobs, others are still on the hunt. In tough times even small moves count. I also happen to know the lawyer in question and know that he was unaffected by the financial downturn and could easily decide not to come back, unlike many others who have been shown pink slips. Its really unfair to settle personal scores like this.
I enjoyed reading this story and would request Kian to please write more often about such developments, I for one want to read more about whats happening in the life of younger lawyers and smaller law firms.
In times like these, sometimes (not always) its nothing personal- just market conditions.
As a general comment, Kian being the website's editor should come up with a policy on comments and then enforce it. Unless this is done, this website will also be headed the way of rediff.com.
Many thanks for your feedback, I definitely see your point.
We currently have a policy on comments, which is set out in the "About" page accessible from the top menu:
"We want Legally India's message boards and comments to be a forum for open and inclusive discussion. Messages posted by readers are therefore generally not moderated.
However, please use your judgement before posting as we will try to edit comments that are offensive or overtly defamatory. If you are unhappy with a reader's comment please send us a short email about it and we will take a look."
Recent highlights of removed comments, apart from the blatantly defamatory, include one commenter cleverly pretending to be a founding partner of Platinum.
We currently still aim for a permissive commenting policy but we will keep evaluating and refining if the current system does not appear to work.
Please do keep letting me know your thoughts, always happy to hear from you.
Best regards,
Kian