Saraf and Partners has announced the names of its 20 partners, all of whom have joined from L&L Partners.
Saraf and Partners was set up in July, in the wake of a dispute between Rajiv Luthra and Mohit Saraf, the two equity partners at L&L Partners. The dispute went to Delhi High Court, where Saraf accepted an interim settlement of INR520 million (USD7 million) to exit L&L Partners, and was granted the right to “set up his own independent law practice, either alone or in partnership”, and to compete for clients, work, lawyers and staff with L&L Partners.
The new firm has a total strength of 84 members, many of whom have come from L&L Partners, and is actively looking to hire more partners and associates. It has offices in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.
Saraf, who is founder and managing partner, has structured the firm to allow a wide spread of equity. “Unlike the concentrated ownership in the previous firm, my ownership interest is capped at 33%, subject to future dilutions,” he told India Business Law Journal.
“My current partners will hold another 30% between them. The remaining 37% will form a pool of equity to be used as an appropriate incentive to attract talent. The entire dispute between Rajiv and I erupted over professionalising the firm and building a structure where everyone shared in the ownership of the firm”.
Saraf says the firm’s focus in the coming six months will be to facilitate existing client relationships as these are the firm’s “foremost brand ambassadors”, and prioritise the focus on bringing on board new clients.
“We also will use this time to build strong internal operations for the smooth functioning of our workflow,” he says.
Saraf & Partners will serve clients in the practice areas of corporate; banking and finance; mergers and acquisitions; restructuring; private equity and venture capital investments; insolvency and bankruptcy; intellectual property; taxation; and dispute resolution.
In addition to Saraf, the partners are as follows:
| Partner name | Practice area | Previous designation at L&L Partners | City |
| Sahil Arora | Corporate and Commercial; M&A; private equity; regulatory; technology | Managing associate | New Delhi |
| Abir Lal Dey | Banking and finance; projects and infrastructure; real estate; restructuring and insolvency | Partner | Mumbai |
| Satadru Goswami | Banking and finance; Debt capital markets; project finance; restructuring and insolvency | Partner | Mumbai |
| Priyamvada H | Banking and finance; project finance; and real estate | Partner | Mumbai |
| Akshay Jain | Corporate and commercial; commercial dispute resolution; insolvency and restructuring; labour and employment; M&A and private equity | Managing associate | New Delhi |
| Bikash Jhawar | Banking and finance; M&A; private equity; restructuring and Insolvency | Partner | Mumbai |
| Vaibhav Kakkar | Corporate and commercial; M&A; Private Equity; regulatory | Partner | New Delhi |
| Vikrant Kumar | Corporate and commercial; M&A; private equity | Partner | Bengaluru |
| Akshay Nagpal | Corporate and commercial law; insolvency and restructuring; M&A | Partner | New Delhi |
| Vivek Pareek | Corporate and commercial; M&A; private equity | Partner | Mumbai |
| Rohit Raghavan | Banking and finance; projects and energy; project finance; restructuring and insolvency | Partner | Bengaluru |
| Arjun Rajgopal | Corporate and commercial; M&A; private equity | Partner | New Delhi |
| Gayatri Roy | Intellectual Property Law; telecommunications, media and technology | Partner | New Delhi |
| Snigdhaneel Satpathy | Corporate and commercial; M&A; Regulatory | Partner | New Delhi |
| Rohan Shah | Corporate and commercial; private equity; M&A | Partner | Mumbai |
| Lokesh Shah | Taxation | Partner | New Delhi |
| Sanjeev Kumar Sharma | Dispute resolution; labour and employment; white collar crime | Partner | New Delhi |
| Abhishek Swaroop | Dispute resolution; restructuring and insolvency | Partner | New Delhi |
| Nipun Vaid | Corporate and commercial; M&A; private equity | Partner | Mumbai |
| Murtaza Zoomkawala | Capital markets | Managing associate | Mumbai |
