Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas competition partner Bharat Budholia, who had resigned in August 2019, is understood to be joining AZB & Partners in Mumbai next month.

We understand that his notice period is still not complete but will expire some time next month.

Budholia was not reachable for comment; AZB declined to comment when contacted.

“We wish him all the best,” Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas managing partner Cyril Shroff had said in August when we had first reported his move.

We have reached out to Shroff for further comment, if any.

Budholia, a 2009 HNLU Raipur graduate, had joined the Amarchand Mangaldas umbrella in 2011 from Juris Corp, and had been promoted to partner in 2016, after then-competition head Nisha Kaur Uberoi had joined AZB & Partners (and Trilegal since then).

In April of this year, competition former partner Rahul Rai had left AZB in Mumbai, after becoming counsel at the firm, to join senior advocate Gopal Subramanium’s chambers.

For AZB, Budholia fills the gap and becomes the first full-time competition partner in Mumbai again since then.

AZB Delhi has had a competition partner Samir Gandhi, who had joined from Economic Laws Practice (ELP) in 2012, in addition to partners Hemangini Dadwal and Aditi Gopalakrishnan, who respectively became partners in 2019.