India Law Journal

Legal Wraps


India
	Clifford Chance in talks with AZB for a possible tie-up
	FoxMandal Little appoints a new copyright head
	Luthra & Luthra Law Offices poaches a strong IP team from Anand and Anand
	No more income bar for ‘Senior Advocates’
	Law Commission asks for executives to appoint judges
	Bombay HC rejects Vodafone’s petition
International
	Luthra & Luthra wins the best Indian law firm at the Asialaw India Awards
	Connecticut legalises gay marriages
	Tajikistan and India sign DTAA
	Hong Kong’s race discrimination ordinance to come into effect in early 2009
	China to implement new tax rules

India

Clifford Chance in talks with AZB for a possible tie-up

The world’s largest law firm Clifford Chance, is in talks with one of India’s biggest firms AZB & Partners for a possible tie-up involving client referrals, joint training, consultation and joint marketing. This has come in the light of several foreign law firms tying up with top India law firms when foreign law firms are eagerly waiting for India to liberalize its legal services sector. Presently, foreign law firms are not allowed to operate in India and Bar Council of India prohibits joint ventures between foreign and domestic law firms. This tie up will help position Clifford Chance in the Indian market ahead of liberlisation. Other big law firms such as Allen & Ovary, Linklaters and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have already established a presence in India with India law firms namely Trilegal, Talwar Thakore & Associates and Baruchas respectively.

FoxMandal Little appoints a new copyright head

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FoxMandal Little (FML), India’s oldest and largest full service law firm, has appointed Mr. Rahul Beruar, as its new Copyright Head. Prior to this,Mr. Beruar was working with Akash Chittranshi & Associates where he served as a Partner for over six years specializing in Copyright laws. He brings to the table a wide experience in the field of copyright enforcement, trademarks prosecution, intellectual property rights related litigation and drafting and reviewing of agreements. This comes after FML acquired Lucknow based law firm Bhatio & Co. to strengthen its presence in India.

Mr. Beruar has advised clients such as the much highlighted case of Harry Potter in India - Ms. J. K. Rowling, Warner Bros, Bloomsbury, Cambridge University Press, Mahindra & Mahindra, Pearson Education, McGraw Hills Publishing Company Plc. among others at the Delhi High Court. He has also taken up Anti-piracy actions for Mahindra & Mahindra, Bloomsbury, Houghton Mifflin Company among others. Further, he has directed and coordinated the investigation and enforcement on behalf of The Publishers Association UK.

Luthra & Luthra Law Offices poaches a strong IP team from Anand and Anand

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Luthra & Luthra Law Offices have taken their IP and Media capabilities to a greater pinnacle after the joining of a strong IP & Entertainment team led by Ameet Datta. The team left the IP firm of Anand & Anand to join Luthra & Luthra Law Offices. The team is led by Ameet Datta who was a partner at Anand And Anand and comprises of Senior Associates Mohit Lahoty, Himanshu Bagai and Associate Thomas George.

Luthra & Luthra which is already renowned for its IP expertise looks set to now dominate the IP laws practice space after the addition of the team. The firm has been engaged, in the past, in high profile IP contentious and non-contentious matters and has exhaustive expertise on both the litigation and corporate side of the business. The addition of the team further expands its media and entertainment practice making it one of the few firms with such a focused and niche practice.

No more income bar for ‘Senior Advocates’

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In a recently landmark judgment, lawyers of the Delhi High Court got a huge sign of relief when the hon’ble Delhi High Court struck down a 2004 amendment in its own rules, which introduced the earning criteria. Sub-rule (iv) of Rule 2 of the Delhi High Court rules is now set to be deleted after this order. Till the amendment, any lawyer practicing in the Delhi High Court and subordinate courts with a minimum practice of 10 years and enrolled with the Bar Council of Delhi was eligible to be conferred this designation by a panel comprising of all the judges of the High Court. After this amendment, in order to be eligible for applying for the ‘senior advocate’ designation, an advocate had to earn a gross professional income of not less than Rs 12 lakh or a net professional income of not less than Rs 6 lakh per annum during each of the preceding assessment years.

Law Commission asks for executives to appoint judges	TOP
The Law Commission of India, headed by retired Supreme Court Judge A.R. Lakshmanan took the example of America, Canada, Australia and Kenya to tell the government that in these countries, the executives had the power to appoint judges and that the Chief Justices of these countries were merely consulted. In the light of this, the commission said that Indian government should also request the apex court to review its judgment to bring in clarity and consistency in the process of appointment of judges of the Supreme Court and the High Court.
Bombay HC rejects Vodafone’s petition	TOP
The Bombay High Court has dismissed a writ petition filed by telecom major Vodafone International Holdings BV which challenged the IT department’s jurisdiction to assess withholding tax on the Hutchison-Vodafone transaction. Vodafone had acquired a 67% stake held by Hutch Telecommunications International in Hutchison-Essar for around $11.2 billion. The IT department had issued a show-cause notice, seeking capital gains tax of around $ 2 billion from Vodafone. It held Vodafone liable because it expected the company to deduct capital gains tax while making payments to Hutchison Whampoa, the parent company of HTIL.

International
Luthra & Luthra wins the best Indian law firm at the Asialaw India Awards	TOP
Luthra & Luthra won the Indian firm of the year as well as domestic banking & finance team of the year. Latham & Watkins won the international firm of the year having also collected the banking & finance team awards. Shearman & Sterling picked up the international capital markets team of the year. Herbert Smith won international M&A team of the year for its work on the Jaguar and Land Rover deal, which also won M&A deal of the year. Clifford Chance narrowly missed an award after working alongside Latham & Watkins on the top banking & finance deal, Rain Calcining’s financing of CII Carbon.

Connecticut legalises gay marriages	TOP
The Connecticut Supreme Court struck down the state’s civil union laws and ruled that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. Connecticut thus joins Massachusetts and California as the only states in the US to legalise gay marriages.

Tajikistan and India sign DTAA

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Tajikistan and India have signed a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement according to which, capital gains from the alienation of shares would be taxed at the source state. However, capital gains arising from the alienation of the shares of a company, deriving its value principally from immovable property, would be taxed in the State where the company is resident and not where immovable property is situated.

Hong Kong’s race discrimination ordinance to come into effect in early 2009	TOP
Hong Kong’s race discrimination ordinance will come into effect in early 2009, bringing with it issues for employers including the prospect of various liability. This ordinance will prohibit direct and indirect discrimination on the grounds of race, racial harassment and discrimination by way of victimisation.
China to implement new tax rules	TOP
From 2009, China will implement a new set of tax rules which will clarity to companies conduction M&As in the country. These rules will be called the Corporate Reorganization Taxation Rules and will be implemented before March 2009.