Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) has acquired three new partners through lateral hires. Asim Abbas joins CAM in New Delhi to head the firm’s technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) practice; Anshuman Sakle is a competition partner in the firm’s Mumbai office; and Sidhartha Barua, who came on board with a team of seven lawyers in New Delhi, has joined the disputes practice.
CAM took Abbas from Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co (SAM) after the informal non-poaching agreement between Cyril and Shardul Shroff ended on 1 April. Abbas moved to SAM from Khaitan & Co in May 2015. Prior to that, he managed his own firm, Legal Spectrums, for just over two years. He has also worked at Luthra & Luthra and J Sagar Associates.
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Abbas has over 22 years of experience in the telecoms sector, including as a director of tariff and costing in the government’s Department of Telecommunication and as vice president of legal at Bharti Airtel, where he supervised a number of projects and handled regulatory and litigation matters before the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal, the Supreme Court of India and other forums.
Abbas said CAM’s “credibility and reach would provide … a big platform and opportunity to use my experience and domain knowledge to strengthen its presence in the TMT space”.
Sakle moved to CAM from Khaitan & Co, where he was a principal associate in the competition practice. He has advised clients on compliance in relation to the enforcement provisions of the Competition Act, 2002; assisted in the drafting and filing of leniency applications with the Competition Commission of India (CCI); and advised clients across industries such as pharmaceuticals, automotive components, media and entertainment and financial services on the applicability of Indian merger control on transactions and on filing pre-merger notifications with the CCI.
Earlier this year, Sakle was a resource person for merger control with the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs and before this he was seconded to Irish law firm A&L Goodbody as part of the firm’s European Union, competition law and intellectual property teams.
Managing partner Cyril Shroff said Sakle’s appointment was part of a plan to “aggressively expand” the firm’s competition law practice.
Barua joins CAM from AZB & Partners, where he spent nine years. The team that moved with him consists of principal associates Umang Pathak and Juvraj Singh, senior associate Manpreet Lamba and associates Shaurya Singh, Akshat Razdan, Madhav Khosla and Shivank Singh.
Barua specializes in dispute resolution, antitrust and corporate advisory. He has represented clients before the Competition Appellate Tribunal and the Company Law Board as well as arbitral tribunals constituted by the Singapore International Arbitration Centre. He has also acted for clients in proceedings before the Enforcement Directorate, the Serious Fraud Investigation Office and other investigative agencies.
In addition, Barua was appointed additional advocate general for the state of Meghalaya in December 2015 and regularly appears for the state and at the Supreme Court and in matters involving states’ chief ministers.
Barua had worked closely for many years with Percival Billimoria, whom CAM hired from AZB & Partners in May to strengthen its disputes practice. Billimoria said: “I would always like [Barua] to be part of my team and count on him as my able lieutenant. I couldn’t be happier to welcome the rest of the crew too.”
Barua said: “It was a natural choice to continue the working relationship we have and Cyril Amarchand is the ideal platform for me as it has been for my mentor. I look forward to my new stint.”
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