Amarchand Mangaldas and Desai & Diwanji reigned the 2009 year-end M&A throne by value and total number of deals done respectively, while Khaitan & Co and AZB & Partners sit comfortably near the top in a year of Asian M&A activity keeping a steady keel.

In Legally India’s IPO league table for Q3 of the 2009-10 financial year Luthra & Luthra has usurped Khaitan & Co for the runner-up spot behind Amarchand’s throne. Together the three firms picked up 49 mandates with a healthy 70-odd IPOs having been file d in that time period.

Massive lawyer mobility, entrepreneurism and Indian firms becoming global/Asian - what more evidence could there be of a rapidly maturing legal market?

Almost everything that could happen, did happen this week in Indian law.

And then hell froze over.

Legally India was the first to report one of the biggest items of foreign law firm news in 15 years: the Bombay High Court finally gave its judgment in the infamous case of Lawyers Collective v Ashurst, Chadbourne & Parke and White & Case.

The full swing of Indian shaadi (wedding) season is taking its toll on lawyers’ time, with most attending a ceremony seemingly every other day.

Nevertheless, or perhaps especially because time is of the essence, lawyers have been acting quickly this week in the run up to the holidays.

JSA has seen a swap in two very hot practice areas: Khaitan & Co is starting up a competition law practice with JSA talent but in compensation JSA took AZB talent to kick off a direct tax practice.

Kaden Boriss was one of the first Indian firms to convert to limited liability partnership (LLP) this year, even before the implications were completely clear. Seven months later the firm has made up four partners and is happy. We have asked why.

Things usually start out nice and steady and the managing partner wears the star rainmaker cap and every other hat on top of it.

But with greater size come greater responsibilities.

It is therefore not a huge surprise that Amarchand Mumbai has taken on a chief operating officer (COO) to relieve the Shroff family of some of its internal management duties.

That Amarchand has hired a non-Indian COO from the UK is more unusual.

As is to be expected in an adversarial legal system, lawyers are generally a competitive lot, fighting for instructions, poaching talent and besting the opposition in negotiations.

However, while not yet fully-fledged, law students are easily on par with their qualified counterparts in the competitiveness stakes.

Rivalries range from national versus non-national law schools, five-year versus three-year courses, LLMs versus LLBs, North versus South and more or less everyone versus NLS Bangalore.

This week a cyclone was forecast to ravage Mumbai. Government offices closed at 3pm, slums were evacuated and several law firms shut their doors and sent staff home as a precaution.

However, the cyclone fizzled out and Khaitan & Co managed to go ahead with its new Mumbai office housewarming party, the paint barely dry on the walls.

In Delhi meanwhile, an overheating lamp caused a small fire in Phoenix Legal’s office. Just like in Mumbai’s supposed cyclone, fortunately no one was hurt and the tiny inferno was brought quickly under control by firefighting lawyers.

But not just forces of nature caused excitement this week.

The Lawyer magazine first reported on Monday that Amarchand Mangaldas Delhi has hired a non Indian-qualified competition law expert from Ireland.

Several law firms have reason to be happy (no, the Advocates Act’s restriction on foreign lawyers practising has not been repealed).

The Ambanis yet again dominated the national headlines as the multi-billion dollar dispute between brothers Anil and Mukesh began limping through the Supreme Court.

Then, as though there was not nearly enough drama in the saga, one of the three judges discovered that his daughter was a partner at AZB Bangalore.

Indian law firms have been modernising at breakneck pace, in part spurred by the threat of liberalisation, however distant.

But the backs of many legal minds are still niggled by the concern that innovation in India’s actual legal machinery remains largely stagnant.

Tired of the “in India you litigate for 18 years”-joke, transactional lawyer and advocate Elizabeth Seshadri argues how India’s Bar and Bench should be saved.

Legally India is a big fan of South Mumbai but the city’s centre of legal gravity is gradually shifting North.

Both Khaitan & Co and Trilegal will take up residence in a new development in Lower Parel, joining Amarchand and several smaller firms in the area.

Last month Phoenix Legal also took a new address above the trendy nightspot Blue Frog in Lower Parel; the new office has a capacity of 30 but the firm is currently only six lawyers strong there.

The Indian festival season is now in full swing and almost everyone seems to be celebrating already. We will therefore keep this one brief and joyous.

Clifford Chance and AZB have entered a new stage in their friendship as CC has opened up its training academy for a potentially limitless number of AZB associates. Expect queuing.

Law schools, law firms and law-related businesses are mushrooming all over the place these days as India does one of the things it does best: building enterprises.

Law firms have been seizing the week of Lord Ganesha’s birthday to do many interesting things.

For most lawyers it has been business as usual this week despite much of India descending into swine flu panic, today’s streets being awash with Hindu god Lord Krishna’s birthday celebrations and Independence Day national holidays tomorrow.

Deals still need to get done, after all, and there are plenty of sides to be acting for.

Indian law firms are famously enamoured with the letters of the alphabet. But is it rubbing off on the Indian tax office?

After a near-hiatus for almost one year the IPO pipeline has finally filled up this July. No company wants to be left behind by the cheap cash-for-equity gravy train, the gold rush now appears to be self-sustaining – at least for the time being.

The distribution of spoils among Indian law firms is likely to be less even-handed.

Late salary payments are nothing new for some lawyers.

“It’s a regular feature at some firms and the reason is that the managing partner might not feel like signing cheques on some days,” muses one Delhi partner.

It is hard to establish to what scale Indian law firms have laid off associates during the down-turn.

One thing is clear though: the domestic war for talent has begun to heat up again, especially as foreign firms have lost buying power after a tough year of retrenchments and falling profits.

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