Breaking: Argus and Udwadia & Udeshi weld 5-office nat’l firm in cross-generational merger

Wednesday, 15 February 2012 By Legally India Law firms

Exclusive: Two-and-a-half-year old Argus Partners has merged with Mumbai-headquartered Udwadia & Udeshi to create 12-partner, 60-lawyer national firm, which will be managed by Argus co-founder Krishnava Dutt.

It is understood that the agreement to combine both firms on 1 April 2012 was signed in Mumbai today after long-running negotiations. The merged firm Udwadia, Udeshi and Argus Partners will have offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore and Chennai.

Udwadia & Udeshi is managed by Darius Udwadia and Dilip Udeshi and was founded in 1997 after they retired from Crawford Bayley & Co’s partnership. The firm specialises in project finance, M&A, corporate, litigation and arbitration work.

Both senior partners had previously also partnered with Berjis Desai, who is now the Mumbai-based senior partner at J Sagar Associates, under the banner Udwadia Udeshi & Berjis.

Udwadia & Udeshi had around seven partners and 30 lawyers last year, according to RSG Consulting.

Argus Partners was founded in September 2009 by former Amarchand Mangaldas Kolkata partner and office head Krishnava Dutt, together with former Amarchand Kolkata principal associate Ramya Hariharan.

In October 2010 Argus opened up in Mumbai, hired HSA Advocates Mumbai partner Utsa Shome in June 2011 and started a Kolkata litigation practice with a small team from Amarchand.

Udwadia, Udeshi and Dutt were unavailable for comment at the time of going to press.

Photo by US Navy

Comments

reality 15 Feb 2012, 14:22

+2 -0

All the best guys!

Just ignore any of the sarcastic or stupid comments, which may follow soon.

reality 15 Feb 2012, 14:26

+0 -0

1 April 2012? or 1 Feb 2012?

Illusion 16 Feb 2012, 14:55

1 April, fool!

Advocate General 15 Feb 2012, 15:01

This is really great news! Argus is indeed going places.

Legaldeagle 15 Feb 2012, 15:13

The agreement has been signed but firms will merge on 1st april

Legaldeagle 15 Feb 2012, 15:15

+1 -0

Btw congrats argus partners. Good to see firms such new firms do so well in such short span of time! Shows what impact good leadership can do! Krishnava and team kudos to u all! Good luck! Hope to see u guys in the top 4 soon !

Friend 15 Feb 2012, 16:16

Krishnava - Well done, good wishes to you! curious to find out what the new firm would be called - UAP

Kaludas Paan Shop 15 Feb 2012, 23:11

the article says it will be called Udwadia Udeshi and Argus Partners... :D

Foe 16 Feb 2012, 14:54

[quote name="Friend"]Krishnava - Well done, good wishes to you! curious to find out what the new firm would be called - UAP[/quote]

new
Financial year

da 15 Feb 2012, 17:22

uh oh.. another Fox Mandal Little (Calcutta meets Bombay).

Tatanka 16 Feb 2012, 02:55

[quote name="da"]uh oh.. another Fox Mandal Little (Calcutta meets Bombay).[/quote]
Krishnava is no Som!! :P

Brando 16 Feb 2012, 07:04

Ei cholbe na!

Kanodia 16 Feb 2012, 04:44

Congratulations and all the best

Argus Admirer 16 Feb 2012, 05:04

+3 -0

This is fantastic....the firms have excellent synergies - udwadia and udeshi has tradition and legacy while Argus has dynamism and excellence - this merger will enhance the potential of both firms...wish this dream team the very best!

In House Counsel 16 Feb 2012, 05:51

+4 -0

A win-win if egos don't clash. KD can transform the UU sleeping giant and make it competitive with the smaller, younger firms, and Argus get's to tap into UU's solid address book. If only the partners are sensible about power sharing though.

reality 16 Feb 2012, 06:32

Yes, it's a win-win. It's all about "ego" only and nothing else. If youngsters and oldies come together and compliment each other then, they can do wonders to the profession. But unfortunately, i know of some oldies who feel insecure because of the youngsters and often lose them and that's why one sees so many new firms coming-up.

Lawyer 16 Feb 2012, 10:34

Would agree. sadly the spirit of true partnership (as in the UK firms) is not visible in ANY Indian firm that I know. not just imited to old v. young. partnerships have reportedly broken apart due to conflicts between young founders (Trilegal- Phoenix) as well.

there are either 'master-servant relationships' or the 'lone wolf' partnerships in India.

will be interesting to see what becomes of JSA.

Anon3 16 Feb 2012, 06:22

A new name I wish to suggest (which I think would be a tad more catchy than what is presently contemplated) :

Darius Dutt Dilip (DDD)
(The 3 Musketeers)

Patil 16 Feb 2012, 14:52

3 Dons

NameHunter 17 Feb 2012, 07:08

Agreed, that the presently proposed name of Udwadia, Udeshi and Argus Partners sounds like you're talking about two different partners. The solicitor firm-like name of U&U and the neocorporate name of Argus Partners do not gel.

Ergo, I think they should call it Darius & Various. But there is Dutt.

truth 16 Feb 2012, 08:16

U & U has some good young litigation guys they can do wonders along with the new team

Janak Dwarkadas 16 Feb 2012, 11:09

Hope to get more briefs from U as i've been sitting ideal in my chamber hatching eggs and busy doin' nothing

anon 16 Feb 2012, 11:15

[quote name="Janak Dwarkadas"]Hope to get more briefs from U as i've been sitting ideal in my chamber hatching eggs and busy doin' nothing[/quote]

Is this senior counsel Janakbhai commenting ??!!

BLR 16 Feb 2012, 20:43

+5 -0

You really think The Janak Dwarkadas wouldn't know the difference between "ideal" and "idle"?
On a separate note, do you think he has no business in life apart form commenting on LI?

Ram 16 Feb 2012, 11:38

Congratulations

Dada 16 Feb 2012, 11:53

Amazin' news... Congrats and best of luck to u all

Dalvi R 16 Feb 2012, 13:52

God bless your marriage !!!

Fali 16 Feb 2012, 13:58

By working faithfully eight hours a day you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve hours a day.

Anonymous 16 Feb 2012, 15:24

Udwadia udeshi was dying with the average age being 75! So this reduces the age a bit. Desperate measure

Mr.Desai 16 Feb 2012, 19:09

The greatest accomplishment is not in never falling, but in rising again after you fall.

EternalThinker 17 Feb 2012, 07:17

I wonder if such a marriage is bound to last. I mean, there was FML. Or whether it's good to grow organically or merge with a firm which already has a long history. If they indeed want this to continue as one firm with one homogeneous work culture across offices (so very important for a law firm), a lot of things would need to change in both erstwhile firms. One only hopes that such issues have been properly accomodated.

Rohinton N 19 Feb 2012, 09:48

Finally Udwadia n Udeshi are in news,
great to c them in the league
go kill it .... cheerz :)

deathrock 21 Feb 2012, 19:13

Well all the best my friend!!!! one of the most interesting people to work with!!!!!

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