Indian law firm Luthra & Luthra Law Offices has added banking and finance attorney Rohit Sharma (L) and tax counsel Rubal Bansal Maini as partners In Mumbai and Delhi, respectively. Sharma joins from Bharucha & Partners, while Bansal Maini was an independent counsel.

They become Luthra’s first partner hires after its merger with 33-lawyer Atlas Law Partners last month.

Sharma, who joins Luthra’s insolvency and bankruptcy practice specialises in domestic and cross-border finance transactions ranging from asset-backed finance and external commercial borrowings to securitisation.

His list of clients includes NIIF Infrastructure Finance Limited (formerly known as IDFC Infrastructure Finance Limited), State Bank of India, Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Company and Maersk Trade Finance, among others.

Bansal Maini joins Luthra’s direct tax practice in Delhi as a partner. She had been a legal counsel since 2018 in the chambers of RV Easwar, a senior counsel at the Supreme Court of India who is known for his tax practice.

She has also spent time as a tax counsel in the offices of then-additional solicitor general of India Balbir Singh, and law firm DSK Legal.

Bansal Maini’s addition to the tax team comes after Luthra lost tax partner Sumit Mangal to AZB last month. The firm also saw the departure of three-member tax team led by partner Ajinkya Gunjan Mishra to S&R Associates in April, listing Sanjeev Sachdeva as the only partner in its tax practice before Bansal Maini’s hire.

But Luthra was actively hiring in other practice areas earlier this year, with partners Shreya Sircar and Vikash Kukreti joining the firm’s disputes and TMT groups, respectively.