Indian Law Firm Awards - India Business Law Journal

Indian Law Firm Awards
Sumit Saha, vice-president and general counsel at DE
Shaw & Co, says S&R “probably possess the best drafting
skills in any Indian firm and tend to be highly responsive to
client needs”. Saha particularly appreciates S&R’s responsiveness
and ability to deliver results within compressed
time frames. “Sandip Bhagat is a seasoned capital markets
lawyer with exceptional technical skills and very good judgment,”
he adds.
Luthra & Luthra was also busy on the capital markets
front, advising the bookrunners on Canara Bank’s US$445
million qualified institutional placement, while AZB &
Partners played a role on Vedanta Resources’ US$1.65
billion bond offering. J Sagar Associates aided the joint
lead managers and bookrunners on State Bank of India’s
US dollar and euro bond issue while Khaitan & Co flexed
its capital markets muscle advising on multimillion-dollar
rights issues for Central Bank of India and hospitality
group EIH.
Competition and antitrust
This category includes key architects of India’s competition
law. Best known among them is Vinod Dhall, a former
chairperson of the CCI who spearheads a boutique competition
law practice, Dhall Law Chambers. Last year, the
firm recruited three India-qualified competition lawyers.
Dhall assisted Disney in gaining CCI approval for its acquisition
of UTV Software Communications.
The firm also represented Sumitomo in the first foreign-
February 2012
Intelligence report
to-foreign CCI filing, for its merger with fellow steel major
Nippon. It was a complex case as the parties were Japanbased
and had eight overlapping products in the Indian market.
Masaki Hanai from the legal department at Sumitomo
Metal Industries worked with associate Sonam Mathur on
the deal. “She had very good communications with us as
well as with the CCI,” says Hanai. “She made efforts and
duly helped us in obtaining CCI approval.”
Joining Dhall Law Chambers in the winners’ circle are
Amarchand Mangaldas, Economic Laws Practice, J Sagar
Associates, Luthra & Luthra and P&A Law Offices.
Pallavi Shroff, head of Amarchand’s competition practice,
was one of nine members of the High Level Committee on
Competition Policy and Law led by SVS Raghavan. In
September, the firm assisted NHK Japan and NHK India in
securing CCI approval to acquire the BCL Springs Division
of Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation.
Anand Pathak, the managing partner at P&A Law Offices,
is another stalwart on the competition stage. Pathak was
part of a committee led by Dhanendra Kumar, a former
chairperson of the CCI, that was called together last year to
discuss the implementation of a national competition policy
and recommend measures to be taken by the government.
Pathak represented MCX Stock Exchange in a case where
the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) was accused
of abuse of dominant position. The CCI found that the NSE
had abused its dominant position in terms of section 4(2)(a)
(ii) and 4(2)(e) of the Competition Act. The NSE was ordered
to stop “unfair pricing, exclusionary conduct and unfairly
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