Recently, the Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh bestowed an honor upon the Founder & Managing Partner of the Firm, Mr. Rajiv K. Luthra by awarding him the National Law Day Award 2008 at the Plenary Hall at Vigyan Bhawan with a citation:
‘In recognition of his singular contribution to the practice of Corporate and Commercial Law in India and for being the country’s earliest pioneer in International transaction lawyering’

The Bar Council of India has finally allowed lawyers to advertise their services on the internet in this era of globalization. This move has come late as firms abroad have been advertising their services since more than a decade. This decision was informed by the BCI to the Supreme Court after an affidavit was filed through its secretary Mr. S. Radhakrishnan. However, as in decided in the case of V.B. Joshi v. Union of India, where this amendment was made in Rule 36, Section IV, only 5 pieces of information can be advertised on the internet i.e. (1) name of the firm, (2) address, telephone numbers and email id, (3) (a) enrollment number, (b) date of enrollment, (c) name of State Bar Council where originally enrolled, (d) name of the State Bar Council on whose roll name stands currently and (e) name of the Bar Association of which the advocate is a member, (4) professional qualifications and academic qualifications and (5) areas of practice.

The Central Information Commission rejected the Supreme Court’s claim that the Chief Justice of India was beyond the purview of the right to information or RTI. The CIC has directed the Apex Court to make public the information available with the CJI as to whether its judges have been, in terms of a 1997 resolution, regularly been filing declarations of their assets.

A delegation comprising of students and one faculty member from Gujarat National Law University, India namely Fakkiresh Sakkarnaikar (Coach), Namit Gehlot, Shobhit Agarwal, Ujjwal Kacker and Vikrant Pachnanda met the Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen at Copenhagen on 12th March 2009 at the recently concluded International Negotiation Competition and Climate Change Congress from 6th-12th March  where they represented India. They redrafted the Copenhagen Protocol which is to replace the Kyoto Protocol and negotiated it along with seven other shortlisted countries in the run up to the UN COP15 which will take place at Copenhagen in December 2009. Their treaty was even published in a book, a copy of which was presented to the Danish Prime Minister.

Gujarat National Law University (GNLU) in association with the Government of Gujarat will be hosting the 1st GNLU International Moot Court Competition (GIMC) during the period of 2nd to 5th April, 2009.  The teams are from the premier law schools of India and leading universities of Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh. The competition will feature distinguished members of the judiciary and the bar and legal luminaries from the corporate and academic spheres namely Hon’ble Justice Singhvi, Judge, Supreme Court of India, Hon’ble Justice R.C. Lahoti, Former Chief Justice of India, Hon’ble Justice C.K. Thakker, Former Judge, Supreme Court of India, Justice M.S. Shah, Judge, High Court of Gujarat, Mr.Kamal Trivedi, Advocate General of Gujarat and international legal experts like Mr. Christopher Staker from the United Kingdom and Ms. Suzan Paraminan from the United States among others. More information related to the moot may be viewed at www.gnlu.org.in/gimc/gimc2009.html.

Eying India has one of the fastest growing markets, more global law firms are having tie-ups with global firms. The most recent being leading Indian firm Jyoti Sagar Associates which has tied up with DLA Piper which is one the largest law firms in the world and the largest law firm in U.S.A with a strength of more than 3,500 lawyers in more than 28 countries. There is no violation of the ban on foreign law firms practicing in India as it is in the form of a referral agreement which is non exclusive and there is no profit sharing involved. In another development, UK based law firm Beachcroft has also entered into an MoU with Khaitan Jayakar Sud & Vohra. Here the main focus is insurance as Beachcroft has the largest share in the European market in the insurance sector with a share of 35%.

China’s Ministry of Commerce has blocked Coca Cola’s takeover of Huiyuan juice. Lawyers’ heel that is a protective move and could hurt the M&A prospects in the country. Had this deal happened it would have been a US $2.4 billion takeover which would have been the largest of a Chinese company by a foreign company.

Shell has consulted law firm Allen Arthur Robinson in its joint venture with Arrow Energy. This JV includes an arrangement to develop coal seam gas assets in Australia.