Lateral hiring dried up a little bit in December, but three Indian law firms still brought in partners. Dentons Link Legal landed its seventh of the year, while Lumiere Law Partners lost three more.

Disputes specialist Kshama A. Loya joined Dentons Link Legal as a partner in Mumbai from Nishith Desai Associates, where she was the head of international commercial and investment arbitration. She became Dentons Link Legal's seventh lateral partner hire of the year, coming on board a few weeks after Rohitashwa Prasad joined from J Sagar Associates.

With roughly a decade of experience, Loya advises Indian and foreign clients, and governments on disputes involving commercial and investor-state arbitration, contractual disputes and in commercial, civil and criminal litigations. Prior to her time at Nishith Desai, she worked for Trilegal and ALMT Legal.

Bengaluru-based private equity-focused law firm NovoJuris Legal has enhanced its intellectual property practice with the addition of partner Varalakshmi Makyam. Makyam advises on copyright and trademark registration, drafting patent specifications, and filing patent applications including with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and the European Patent Office.

In October, NovoJuris expanded its operations by opening two offices in the U.S. One caters to companies looking to enter the U.S., while the other focuses on U.S. immigration law.

DMD Advocates has bolstered its corporate practice by welcoming partners Vihang Virkar and Monika Deshmukh in Mumbai and Ayesha Rai in Delhi, all of whom join with their teams from Lumiere Law Partners. DMD saw two partner departures earlier in 2023. Cross-border transactions lawyer Sumit Sinha joined Phoenix Legal as a partner in Delhi while Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co recruited tax lawyer Rohit Garg as a partner in Delhi.

Virkar will head DMD’s corporate practice in Mumbai. With more than two decades of experience, he advises Indian and multinational clients on M&A, corporate financing, restructuring and issues pertaining to governance, foreign direct investment and securities law. Virkar was a partner at Lumiere for nearly nine years.

Also bringing over two decades of experience to DMD, Deshmukh advises clients on transactions in the infrastructure, pharma, technology, hospitality, manufacturing, financial services, healthcare, telecommunication and logistics sectors. Deshmukh was an executive director at Lumiere for almost nine years.

Rai is a corporate finance lawyer with more than 15 years of experience and specialises in aviation law. She advises on aircraft and engine financing, sale–purchase transactions, aircraft, helicopter and engine leasing, and technical and commercial contracts for scheduled and non-scheduled operators. Before joining Lumiere, Rai was at Desai & Diwanji.

Lumiere, an independent EY law network member firm, saw employment and corporate expert Anirudh Mukherjee join Kochhar & Co as a partner in Gurugram in October and tax attorney Dhruv Gupta join Trilegal as a partner in Delhi in December 2023. The exodus coincides with EY’s cost cutting efforts amid restructuring to narrow losses, which is believed to have led to the decision to close LC Lawyers, EY’s member firm in Hong Kong.