AZB & Partners was founded as a full-service firm, combining the practices of CZB & Partners in Mumbai and Ajay Bahl & Company in Delhi. Since inception, it has steadily grown and now has offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Pune and Bangalore. The company’s strength lies in its team of over four hundred lawyers, each with a key understanding of the legal, regulatory and commercial environments in India and abroad.
The Founding Members
The Founder figures include Zia Mody, Ajay Bahl and Bahram Vakil who have contributed to where the Firm is today, both in terms of its collective commitment to quality and the passion for what they do.
Zia Mody is counted amongst India’s most formidable corporate lawyers. She holds an unmatched authority on corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, securities law, private equity and project finance.
Ajay Bahl, considered one of India’s foremost corporate attorneys, has been involved in complex and high profile legal and tax transactions. Apart from being a lawyer, he is a qualified chartered accountant, which strengthens his expertise in structuring, restructuring and transfer pricing related issues.
Bahram Vakil is regarded as a renowned restructuring, bankruptcy, infrastructure and project finance attorney.
Diverse Areas of Practice
AZB & Partners value teamwork as well as individual initiative and contribution. The teams are encouraged to think laterally and solve problems with a fresh and relevant perspective. It is a full-service law firm, with high expertise in the following areas of practice:
- Corporate / M&A, Private Equity
- Litigation
- Competition / Antitrust
- Tax practices
- Banking & Finance
- Capital Markets
Its clients include many renowned domestic and international companies ranging from privately owned to public ones. Through its professional engagement, the firm has built a strong relationship with specialists, regulatory authorities and several international law firms.
Views on the Legal System
The Firm believes that in many ways, the Indian legal system is extremely advanced and in others, it falls short terribly. And it is the delay that renders it short. The founders say, “We have some catching up to do for our laws to reflect the global perspective of our country. Our laws should provide for easier investment in and out of the country, which will help to strengthen India’s position in the global economy.”
The Firm believes that as we move into the age of technology, e-court platforms and digitization of the judicial process are the obvious next steps for India’s legal environment and will certainly help law firms and citizens alike. These efforts will allow legal firms to streamline the legal processes, allowing everything to be more transparent and cost-effective. However, it will need to be accompanied by education, so that the technology can be employed proficiently, rather than increase inefficiencies.
Being Responsible
The Firm is a big supporter of the Jai Vakeel Foundation (erstwhile The Research Society), an NGO that works with the disabled as well as Teach for India. It also does pro bono work for several Microfinance companies, water.org and other worthwhile causes.
It regularly participates in ‘GiveIndia,’ a program for corporate employees and organizations to give back to society directly from their payroll. Several of its lawyers and staff donate an amount of their salary every month to charities they believe in. GiveIndia helps it achieve this in an easy and responsible manner.
Miles to Go
The founding members using their experience, advice the young entrepreneurs, “To invest in their professional careers with passion, to believe in enhancing their domain every day and do not want short term solutions and have long term goals.”
As for AZB & Partners future outlook, they intend to grow the firm’s presence into other cities in India and maintain its position as a leading firm in the Indian legal market.
