J Sagar Associates (JSA), India's sixth largest law firm by headcount, has subsumed Bangalore-based boutique law firm M&C Partners. M&C will contribute an 18-lawyer, 3-partner team to JSA and will bring the firm's number of lawyers in south India to 39, including five partners.
Jyoti Sagar, founding partner of JSA, called the merger timely, saying that it bolsters the firm's resources in key counter-cyclical practice areas. "With this merger we enhance our presence in southern India in the practice areas of corporate restructuring, real estate and dispute resolution thereby increasing the depth and breadth of the offerings."
This move follows JSA's recent addition of an indirect tax practice after all law firms in India noted a spike in instructions in this area due to the revision of the country's FDI guidelines in early February 2009.
For more on consolidation in the Indian legal services market, see the August edition of ALB.
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