SAM corporate equity partner Anuj Prasad to leave

Thursday, 14 November 2019 By Legally India Law firms

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (SAM) Delhi-based equity partner Anuj Prasad has resigned.

He specialises in corporate, M&A and private equity work, as well as aerospace and defence.

We have not been able to confirm his plans for after the end of his notice period.

He did not respond to our request for comment.

We have reached out to SAM for comment.

Update 19:55: The firm commented: “Anuj will be moving on from the Firm in January 2020. Anuj has been with us for over 13 years and we are thankful to him for his contribution to the success of our firm. We wish him all the very best in his future endeavours.”

The 2001 SLS Pune graduate had begun his career at Dua Associates, joining erstwhile Amarchand Mangaldas in 2006.

Prasad had made partner at Amarchand in 2010, and was promoted to equity partner in 2018.

He joined Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas after the break up of Amarchand, and was promoted to equity partnership in 2018.

Comments

Bike 14 Nov 2019, 14:50

+4 -0

Looks like he finally saw the "light of the day"

Twoo 15 Nov 2019, 08:25

+6 -0

Looks like the trio of coffee + cigs is finally broken :(

Alone 14 Nov 2019, 15:09

+5 -1

Is he joining CAM?

Question 14 Nov 2019, 15:16

+8 -0

Indus?

Bike 14 Nov 2019, 15:16

+16 -0

Good for him - any job is better than a recovery agent's job

Captain Marvel 14 Nov 2019, 16:05

+7 -0

Quit within one year of equity? All is clearly not well in SAM

AK Equity 14 Nov 2019, 21:19

+4 -3

Has his team received increments and arrears yet?

Dollops 15 Nov 2019, 04:10

+5 -0

Would be interesting to know what a first year equity partner makes in S/CAM. Why would someone want to leave within a year of getting equity? Any gyaan?

Specwars 15 Nov 2019, 05:06

+30 -1

The jump to EP is a major one and comes with extreme financial pressure. Family run firms like SAM set growth metrics, so you have to not only bill and recover an insane amount of money, but also show YoY revenue growth that is nearly always impossible to meet. Your equity percentage is never stable, especially if you don't have a legacy client book to rival the Shroffs. As one rather sour EP once put it to me, "It's all Excel files for me now, no more Word".

wHY MODERATION 15 Nov 2019, 08:56

Yo Kian. Why was my comment stating that AP is moving to [...] moderated. Its a done deal. Also [...] is also moving as Partner

So? 15 Nov 2019, 09:13

+3 -3

Why blame family firms? This is the case anywhere in the world. If you expect associate pay to go up, then EP target must rise as well. Those who keep beating about the foreign law firm entry should find out the pressure that an EP in a foreign law firm is under? They will be very happy to be an EP in any Indian law firm. The YoY revenue growth targets are insane. Dont think that a foreign law firm will come and simply pay you a lot. They will bleed you to death. Of course they are more objective etc etc but this discussion is simply in relation to EP pressure and billing requirements and not anything else.

Small PP 15 Nov 2019, 10:20

+9 -5

Do you draft your documents in the same rambling style or is this reserved for LI comment section alone? SAM wale lagte ho.

There's a difference between increasing revenue recovery targets and setting growth targets. You could meet your Rev target for a year and still fall short of growth. It's simple economics, but then you wouldn't be here unnecessarily discussing foreign law firms if you had a grasp of anything simple. Family firms are to blame here because the equity ratio between heirs and hires is completely out of whack, whereas a more democratic firm like JSA would have more proportionate targets and remuneration.

Firms 16 Nov 2019, 05:24

+2 -1

I find it rather surprising that the whole family firm issue is raked up only at the time when someone is reaching EP levels. There is no problem when the same family firm comes in and offers top pay at recruitment for freshers, more than non family firms and continues to pay well over the career of the lawyer. The lawyer knows very well what the EP level entails. Suddenly after spending years in the organisation, it becomes a place to not have a career because it's family run.

Guest 16 Nov 2019, 06:27

+7 -1

That's only logical. Family run firms would pay well to workers, but would have trouble accepting you as an equal, a possibility that only takes place once you've reached the upper echelons. Further, it's not as if family-run firms are paying freshers more (which they aren't, really, AZB, Trilegal and CAM, SAM, KCO all offer comparable salaries to freshers) because they are family-run. But they are certainly not offering effective equity to others because they are family run. The first one lacks correlation/causation, unlike the second one.

HR aspirant 17 Nov 2019, 03:26

+0 -0

Do you work in SAM's HR department. Please let me know where can I apply

Tencent 17 Nov 2019, 12:40

+1 -0

This is extremely unfair.

Tencent 17 Nov 2019, 12:38

+1 -1

10 crore?

EP to EP 15 Nov 2019, 06:33

The real question is why would someone resign within a year of getting equity? Is it equity doesn't really mean equity, but rather a means for the firm to keep back money that you would have otherwise got if you were a salaried partner, increase targets, and make it harder for people to meet them? And is it also true that you may be an equity partner in "SAM" but in one of the baby firms under the main firm "SAM"? It is rather telling - does equity partnership at all work, or is it only for the top layer?

Big PP 15 Nov 2019, 07:36

+12 -2

The partner track in Indian law firms is a joke anyway. Half the junta going around calling themselves Partner are just glorified associates with no equity in the organisation. You spend two decades of your prime youth chasing after equity only to realise that the prize for the pie eating competition is more pie. How long until people do the simple math? For every hundred associates that join firms each year, barely one person makes it to equity. Follow the trail of people falling out along the way and you'll see why partnership isn't worth it.

Plagiarism Police 15 Nov 2019, 08:28

+12 -1

At least paraphrase the WSJ article :P

Guest 15 Nov 2019, 12:21

+1 -2

Maybe he wrote that one too.

Squalor 15 Nov 2019, 13:13

+7 -2

Sad to know that they rejected you for Partnership again! Maybe because you belittle associates by using them as a point of reference to push an idea.

Ex-SAM 15 Nov 2019, 10:02

What about his team? He had a good and stable team couple of years back. What will happen to them.

Soothsayer 16 Nov 2019, 11:14

A mid level departures - with him.

Where 17 Nov 2019, 02:56

To where? His private retirement duplex?

Commenting is closed for this article.