Around 25 fee-earners in the team of Ashwath Rau, who is set to join AZB & Partners Mumbai office with at least three partners from Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, have been told that today will be their last day in the office, Legally India understands according to multiple authoritative sources.
That number includes two partners in Rau’s team, Anu Tiwari and Dhruv Singhal, while partner Ganesh Rao is still handing over matters at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas and will not have a day off work tomorrow.
At the same time, six AZB & Partners Delhi fee-earners in senior partner Percy Billimoria’s team, have also been told that they could leave the firm today, ostensibly to join Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas in Delhi with Billimoria.
However, it is understood that leaving dates for Rau and Billimoria have not yet been agreed, though they are subject to negotiation.
Notice periods for associates at Cyril Amarchand are typically two months, while equity partners’ contractual notice periods at firms such as Cyril Amarchand can be up to six months long.
Rau’s partners announced their departures on 23 April, while Billimoria’s leaving for Cyril Amarchand became official only on 25 May.
We have reached out to Rau, Billimoria, Cyril Amarchand managing partner Cyril Shroff, and AZB Mumbai managing partner Zia Mody for comment.
Comments
And folks thought with the exodus happening at AZB (Shuva, Joshi etc), downfall of an empire here, was imminent but what a come back, no? So time will tell, if ones falls to rise again ! Thoko Taali :-)
So, hold on, are you suggesting that the CAM block of legal websites was related to this?
I don't know why lawyers say it is a good time to be a lawyer? Dig deeper guys - u will understand what a bad time it is to be a lawyer. U will earn the money, but where's the respect? These so called doyens of the industry are nothing but scumbags who will not bat an eyelid before laying off people whose collective experience in the profession is well over 150-200 years!
When will law firm promoters learn to respect people, and more importantly, their career decisions ?
For someone who has 10 years of experience, I feel there is such a dearth of well - meaning and professional law firms - never felt so insecure of my future in this profession!!
If anything, it's a sign of professionalism, and maturity, no?
So, not saying this is necessarily the most professional code of conduct right here, though it's certainly an improvement on how things used to be done, no?
It's high time professionals are treated like how they should be. Imagine someone having worked his/her arse off for 10-12 years in a place like CAM - quite literally giving his/her life to the firm - only to be told on his/her 10/12th anniversary of joining the firm that he/she come in from tomorrow!!
Where's the dignity?
also, i think someone needs to prepare a memo between deciding an exit date for people who have resigned and 'laying off'. Kian, the comments are getting confusing! That too this is from a bunch of lawyers!! If this isn't clear then yeah clearly the profession has a lot to worry about.
As much as we love to hear about top-level departures from firms, it would be interesting to get some reportage of the number of first year associates who have left firms within a few months of joining. CAM Bangalore has seen more than half of its first year joinees (including myself) leave. Maybe that is something to look at as well?
The googly eyed calphurnia spoketh and the blind king doeth.
Le roi est mort, vive le roi!