Mumbai-based law firms BTG Legal and Advaya Legal have united to establish BTG Advaya, an 11-partner legal entity with offices in Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Delhi.
The newly-formed organisation will be jointly led by Ramesh Vaidyanathan and Prashant Mara, who formerly served as managing partners at Advaya Legal and BTG Legal, respectively. BTG Advaya emphasised its commitment to offering strategic, partner-led counsel by maintaining a partner-to-associate ratio of 1:4, as stated in a press release.
This merger is expected to broaden the firms’ client base and introduce new partners, according to Mara.
“While most mergers or combinations end up being about numbers, our firm belief is that we are professionals coming together and not just businesses merging – therefore, the bottom line is that the quality of legal advice we provide must be top-notch – which I am confident we will score on, as Ramesh and his team are some of the best lawyers I know,” Mara said in a statement.
Vaidyanathan and Mara’s close personal and professional rapport played a significant role in bringing about this merger. Mara expressed his excitement about collaborating closely with Ramesh, a distinguished lawyer and long-time friend of more than 15 years.
“I knew Prashant as an excellent lawyer for several years before our professional relationship grew into a deep and lasting friendship,” Vaidyanathan added.
BTG Legal, founded by Mara in 2014 following his tenure as a partner at the international law firm Osborne Clarke in London and Cologne, joins forces with Advaya Legal, founded in 2010 by Ramesh Vaidyanathan, who had previously served as the general counsel for various portfolio businesses of the Indian infrastructure conglomerate GVK.
