BTG Legal, Advaya Legal Join Hands To Form BTG Advaya

Indian law firms BTG Legal and Advaya Legal have joined hands to form BTG Advaya to enhance their legal services and client base.

The erstwhile firms, BTG Legal and Advaya Legal, combined their businesses from 21 September, and the new firm will now be made up of 11 partners in three offices in Mumbai, Bengaluru and New Delhi, BTG Advaya said in a statement.

BTG Advaya said the erstwhile firms had over the years built a strong reputation as specialist cross border firms with longstanding client relationships and consistent growth in profitability. The firms, with sector expertise, also shared core values, it added.

“The combination is, therefore, the logical next step to build on those shared values and reputation to be able to better access talent and better service clients,” BTG Advaya said.

BTG Advaya will maintain a partner to associate ratio of 1:4, according to the statement.

BTG Legal was founded by Prashant Mara in 2014 after his stint as a partner with international law firm Osborne Clarke in its London and Cologne offices. Mara, who started his career as in-house counsel with Infosys Ltd., previously also worked with a French law firm in Paris and a national Indian firm.

“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,” Mara said.

Advaya Legal was founded in 2010 by Ramesh Vaidyanathan after having served as the general counsel of several portfolio businesses of Indian infrastructure major GVK. Prior to that, Vaidyanathan was a partner with a large Indian law firm.

“This combination will enhance our ability to provide top-tier legal services and reinforce our reputation for integrity and client-focused practices,” Vaidyanathan said.

Both Mara and Vaidyanathan are the managing partners of BTG Advaya, according to its website.

The law firm’s practice areas include commercial: contracts and procurement, corporate: transactions and restructuring, data privacy and digital regulations, ESG, intellectual property, projects and real estate, regulatory, policy and advocacy as well as white collar defense and investigations, according to its website.

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