Indian law firm ALMT Legal has fractured, leading to the end of its best-friends arrangement with UK law firm Clyde & Co.
Five former partners have left ALMT’s offices in India and London to launch their own firm called Clasis Law. The partners are Shalini Agarwal and Sakate Khaitan in London, Vineet Aneja in Delhi, and Ishtiaq Ali and Renu Parekh, both of whom are based in Mumbai. A number of associates have also joined the breakaway firm and it is understood that Clyde & Co will transfer its allegiance from ALMT to Clasis.
“ALMT Legal went through a division in the partnership, with London, Delhi and part of the Mumbai office separating from the remaining partners of Mumbai and Bangalore,” Agarwal told India Business Law Journal. “We have thus established a new firm – Clasis Law – and will continue to offer Indian legal advice and retain our international relationship with Clyde & Co.”
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ALMT will continue in India with 12 partners, including Sameer Tapia, Gautam Bhatikar and Aliff Fazelbhoy.
Speaking to India Business Law Journal about the reasons for the split, Fazelbhoy said: “Most of us felt it was better strategically to be independent of a single foreign law firm alliance and maintain the good relations we have built up over the years with different law firms across the globe. Others felt a little differently. It was all very amicable and professionally decided.”
The end of the tie-up between ALMT and Clyde & Co is not the first high profile divorce by an Indian and an international law firm. In January, AZB & Partners and Clifford Chance walked away from a two-year marriage, blaming disappointing levels of referral work between the two firms.
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