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Most active legal advisers (private equity) – CY 10 (updated for Dec 31) Rank Firm name No. of Transactions Points Amount (US$M) 1 AZB & Partners 43 86 2354 2 ALMT Legal 19 38 n/a 2 Indus Law 19 38 n/a 3 DSK Legal 15 30 n/a 3 Tatva Legal 15 30 n/a 4 Amarchand & Mangaldas 13 26 1260 5 Trilegal 12 24 215 6 J Sagar Associates 11 22 597 6 Rajani Associates 11 22 n/a 7 Nishith Desai Associates 9 18 n/a 8 APJ-SLG 8 16 n/a 9 ARA Law 7 14 n/a 9 Klaw 7 14 n/a 10 Khaitan & Co 6 12 n/a 10 Luthra & Luthra 6 12 446 11 Gandhi Associates 4 8 n/a 11 Lexygen 4 8 505 11 Sand Hill Counsel 4 8 40 12 S&R Associates 2 4 n/a Source: Venture Intelligence Leading private equity lawyers Aliff Fazelbhoy

H1 2011 M&A by volume (ranked by deal count) Firm H1 2011 deal count H2 2011 values (US$ billion) 2011 avg deal value (US$ million) H1 2010 deal count Desai & Diwanji 22 1.99 90 22 AZB & Partners 20 11.05 553 37 Khaitan & Co 16 3.73 233 8 Trilegal 6 0.434 72 9 J Sagar Associates 5 2.63 526 4 Amarchand & Mangaldas 5 2.47 494 15 PH Bathiya & Associates 4 0.168 42 1 Tatva Legal 4 0.127 32 9 Talwar Thakore & Associates 3 7.85 2617 2 Linklaters 3 7.83 2610 3 Kirkland & Ellis 3 2.41 803 2 ALMT Legal 3 0.127 42 2 Majmudar & Co 3 0.068 23 1 Ashurst 2 1.55 775 - Simpson Thacher & Bartlett 2 1.29 645 2

By Cyril Shroff, managing partner and Rishabh Shroff, associate, Amarchand & Mangaldas

In July this year, a panel of secretaries of the Indian government approved a proposal permitting offshore multi-brand retailers to hold up to 51% in Indian companies in the retail sector. This development has been met with great cheer in the legal market. Though the proposal is set to go through several rounds of approval before being formalised, lawyers are excited for the opportunities this development might present.

As group general counsel of a US$30 billion conglomerate that derives 60% of its revenues from outside its home jurisdiction, Aditya Birla’s Ashok Gupta is ideally placed to comment on efforts to lure greater foreign investment

Labour and employment in India continues to be a priority area for law firms. With domestic companies and foreign companies running operations on the ground, competition for talented workers is high. The demographic dividend in coming years, with a youthful workforce joining the ranks of employees and workers, has been optimistically viewed by practitioners as the onset of a golden age – for both the growing economy as well as for the business of law.

Labour laws continue to lag behind business developments say lawyers, resulting in uncertainty and ambiguity in the application of certain laws in the country. For example, the definition of ‘workman’, and issues surrounding this discussion, has revealed that clarification is needed so as to protect the segments of workers intended by the laws.

Changes to the Employees Provident Fund Act (EPF Act), which were notified in October 2008, are proving burdensome to multinational companies employing expatriates in their Indian subsidiaries, say lawyers. Of particular concern are the amendments that cover the concept of international workers, under which expatriates in India and Indian workers abroad apply

The notification of the Data Privacy Rules on April 11 2011 ushers in a new regulation that will have far-reaching effects on India’s IT, telecommunications and related service sectors. The notified rules provide guidelines for the collection and usage of personal information or data.

Haldiram petition revealed trade mark file loss India’s intellectual property regulatory and tribunal frameworks have been under great scrutiny over the past 12 months. The country’s IP office has endured a challenging year, with embarrassments such as the loss of 44,000 trade mark files as well as allegations of corruption among officials. And the tribunal process did not escape criticism, with the constitutionality of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) and the Copyright Board (CB) questioned in public interest litigation (PIL) permitted by the Madras High Court.