Orbit Law Services has promoted six within its partnership, including elevating its co-founding partner Damodara Rao to senior partner and added former National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) legal counsel Lalit Sharma as partner.

Senior partners

Damodara Rao, who had left Clasis Law with Orbit senior partner Ishtiaq Ali to start up Orbit with third co-founding partner PV Rao, was elevated to the senior partner designation alongside partners Ashok Kamble and T Ravichandran.

Ali, PV Rao and Damodara Rao are now all equity partners, with Ravichandran due to the join the equity soon.

Ravichandran had joined the firm in May 2016 to head its Chennai office. He has more than 30 years of experience including in house stints at Sanmar Group of Companies and NABARD.

Mumbai partner Kamble was in-house counsel for 35 years.

New salaried partner Lalit Sharma joins from NPCI

Orbit Law Services has also hired Lalit Sharma as a salaried partner. A KC Law College alumnus, Sharma had started his career with SKF Bearings India in 2000, followed by in-house stints with Shapoorji Pallonji, Peninsula Land and Overseas Infrastructure Alliance and with law firm MDP & Partners before the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in 2014, where he was legal counsel.

At Orbit he will be part of the corporate advisory and banking and insolvency law practice, the firm said in its press release.

One associate partner to salaried partner promotion

Associate partner Vinita Hombalkar who had joined from independent practice in May 2016, was promoted to partner in Mumbai, as a salaried partner.

2 new associate partners

Principal associates Meghana Joshi and Trisha Kulkarni were made associate partners in Mumbai.

All promotions take effect from 1 April 2018.

Orbit Law Services now has a total of 12 partners, of whom 4 are women. It has 9 salaried partners, 3 equity partners. The firm’s total fee-earner headcount, including partners, is 35, with offices in Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai and Vijayawada.