Khaitan restocks competition with NLSIU prof, UG chair Rahul Singh as part-time partner

Sunday, 14 October 2018 By Legally India Law firms

Rahul Singh joins Khaitan, remains at NLS
Rahul Singh joins Khaitan, remains at NLS

Khaitan & Co has hired NLSIU Bangalore associate professor and chair of the undergraduate council Rahul Singh as a partner for its competition practice.

However, Singh will also continue in his current role at NLSIU for the foreseeable future, we understand.

Khaitan has confirmed his joining, and he will be based in the law firm’s Mumbai and Bangalore office.

Singh has not responded to requests for comment.

In 2013 Singh had left Trilegal , where he was competition head, for a PhD at Oxford University, but had continued to work at the firm as a part-time counsel.

The 2003 NLSIU graduate with a 2004 LLM from Harvard Law School, having also worked at the Bar Council of India (BCI) from 2011 to 2012, and has been associated with NLSIU throughout his career.

One of Khaitan’s most senior competition partner Avaantika Kakkar had left for Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas in June 2018, leaving behind a gap in what has become a critical practice area for corporate law firms.

Khaitan & Copremium contentpartner hiresNLSIU BangaloreRahul SinghBar Council of India (BCI)

Comments

Guest 15 Oct 2018, 01:44
+8 -1
How is that possible? Is his position at NLSIU not permanent but only contractual? Because if it is permanent, then does this conflict with BCI rules? It's good news though, the gap between academia and industry should always be reduced. However, if NLSIU allows this, then I hope it offers similar relaxation to all its faculty members and not simply the more influential ones.
KCO 15 Oct 2018, 04:26
+9 -0
How is Avantika the most senior partner of KCO? I thought paku (who may not be a partner in designation) and manas were way senior.
Seniorita 15 Oct 2018, 05:08
+11 -0
Wasn't AVK the juniormost equity partner in Khaitan's competition team? She is a few decades behind Manas Chaudhuri and Paku Khan in the profession.
kianganz 15 Oct 2018, 05:19
+2 -0
Thanks, have corrected the article. Paku Khan is not a partner and is based in the US, but Manas Chaudhuri is more senior, correct.
Guest 15 Oct 2018, 05:57
+3 -0
Kian - Please get your facts right. Paku is a partner (ED) and is also based in the US.
kianganz 15 Oct 2018, 06:04
+0 -0
ED is not quite the same as partner and is based in the US, so he's not able to appear before tribunals and the like here... But I'm honestly not entirely sure how the practice at Khaitan is structured...
Guest 15 Oct 2018, 08:05
+2 -0
Doesn't this violate BCI rules?? But the rules are really unfair anyway (aimed at corrupt law schools fudging faculty rolls) and should be relaxed for NLUs.
Guest 15 Oct 2018, 08:37
+2 -0
True, but till the Rules are actually changed, doing this is still illegal. It's highly likely this is also a very subjective decision on NLSIU's part to allow this. No doubt Rahul fully deserves it, but the institution should then have a clear policy on this that will allow other faculty to avail of similar opportunities too.
Not everyone 15 Oct 2018, 17:32
+2 -0
It is based on merit. How many others could get such an opportunity?
Guest 15 Oct 2018, 18:08
+4 -0
Nobody is doubting about Rahul's merit, but this is not an award that he is getting. It is a relaxation of rules, in effect bending rules. It is not about being partner/associate in a law firm. It's about permanent faculty members drawing institutional salary, who are accepting profitable commercial work outside the institution, perhaps in violation of BCI/UGC rules. I do not think it can be considered on a subjective basis by the VC/EC of NLSIU without any proper institutional policy as to exactly under what circumstances this can be allowed. That may at some point of time lead to only cronies of the VC getting such relaxations (we have seen plenty of such instances all over the NLU circuit, though I am not repeat not casting any aspersion on Rahul). Where to draw the line needs to be determined: had it been a tier 2 firm? Had it been a principal associate position and not a partner? Had it been a retainership from a corporate house? Had it been a junior assistant professor? These are some very common questions that may arise to be sorted out properly.
CompLawNoob 15 Oct 2018, 09:24
+4 -4
How good a practitioner is this guy? Can someone from Trilegal please enlighten us? Bcoz if he was already a Counsel there, why didn't he just rejoin with them after he came back from Oxford? Or was there friction between an academic and full time professionals - in working style, malleability etc?

If it's the latter, then Khaitan might just burn out here with someone who might not be a good fit - just bcoz they are despo since SAM, Trilegal, AZB & CAM are leaving them behind post Avaantika's migration.
Guest 15 Oct 2018, 10:51
+5 -6
He's fairly decent from what I have heard. Used to be part of CCI's advisory panel too, not sure if he still is.
Chaiwala 16 Oct 2018, 11:15
+0 -0
...earlier, a large international law firm based in NOIDA had a very senior NLSIU Dean/Professor as a Partner Emeritus on its rolls! [...] He used to sit in many GOI committees!
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