Four partners of mid-sized law firm Juris Corp have decided to quit. Following the exit of Veena Sivaramakrishnan, Sandeep Mahapatra, Debanjan Banerjee and Abhinav Surana, the firm will have seven partners and 50 associates across three offices.
The firm, which was set up in 2000, has offices in Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru. It started as a boutique banking and finance firm, before growing its practices in litigation, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, corporate commercial, real estate, startup and fintech, among others.
This is the second major setback for the firm in 2017. In January Juris Corp’s banking partner, Jeet Sen Gupta, had left to join Mumbai-based boutique corporate and disputes resolution firm Vertices Partners.
With the India story witnessing a considerable churn, including changes in regulations, the emergence of a host of new-age businesses, and mergers and acquisitions between domestic as well as overseas companies in the recent past, India has been opportunities galore for law firms. Likewise, new challenges and better prospects have also driven individuals to scout for new challenges.
In April, for instance, BMR Legal had witnessed a similar mass exodus when five of its partners left the firm to join Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co along with a team of 30 lawyers.
In January, Santanu Mukherjee quit as a partner and head of international trade policy advisory at Luthra & Luthra Law Office to start his own firm. Similarly, a senior partner at HSA Advocates, Ranjit Prakash, had also quit to set up his own boutique law firm Archeus Law to focus on construction law and dispute resolution practice.
Says Arti Mashru, founder of conducting firm LexBlurb: “It is neither for money nor for designation, but partners often leave for newer challenges because their current roles fail to mentally stimulate them anymore. This has been one reason, why in the recent past, we have seen many partners opting to join in-house corporate teams or starting out on their own.â€