New York firm Reid & Priest has set up an affiliation with a breakaway firm from the leading Delhi practice Singhania & Co, six months after abandoning its own link with the practice.
The firm has linked up with Titus & Radhakrishnan, recently set up by former Singhania partner Diljeet Titus, and TP Radhakrishnan, a former Indian Ambassador to the US and senior adviser to Reid & Priest.
David Hardy, a partner in Reid & Priest's New York office, said the firm needed access to an Indian law capability to support its project finance practice in the country.
He said Singhania & Co had been too litigation-oriented for the firm. It looked at setting up its own office, but considered this “a more cumbersome way to proceed”.
Three foreign firms US firms Chadbourne & Parke and White & Case and UK firm Ashurst Morris Crisp have set up “liaison” offices in the country, but their licences have been challenged in court.
“An affiliation answers most of our immediate needs,” said Hardy.
Under the arrangement, the New York firm will have access to its Indian partner's five offices in the country, although it will not have any lawyers permanently based in the country.
Two lawyers from the Indian firm Radhakrishnan and Siddhartha Shankar Ray will, meanwhile, be based in Reid & Priest's offices in Washington DC and New York.
