Clasis Law hit with double whammy; Indirect Tax head Manoj Mishra,Infra Head Jatinder Cheema resign

Clasis Law’s Indirect Tax practice Head Manoj Mishra along with the firm’s Infra and Energy Head Jatinder Cheema have recently resigned from the firm. Clasis Managing Partner Vineet Aneja as well as both Mishra and Cheema were not available for comments..Mishra had joined Clasis in 2013 from Grant Thornton to set up the firm’s Indirect Tax practice. The ex-Khaitan lawyer had also worked at KPMG and Honda Siel Cars India Limited..Jatinder Cheema, who had also joined Clasis Law in 2013, had moved from Dhir & Dhir Associates to head the firm’s Infrastructure and Energy Practice. Cheema had started his career with Senior Advocate Ram Jethmalani..The firm has seen a number of exits in the last few years, the most recent being the departure of Shipping Partner Harish Pratap, who left to set up independent practice. Prior to that Mumbai Partners Ishtiaq Ali and Damodara Rao had left to set up ‘Orbit Law Services’. Before that London Senior Partner Sakate Khaitan left along with three Senior Associates Radhika Iyer, Sangeeta Jhunjhunwala and Satyendra Shrivastava had moved out to set up ‘Khaitan Legal Associates’. .Of course, it has not been all downhill for the firm, with a number of high-level lateral hires as well. Rahul Beruar from Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan, and ex-Juris Corp Senior Partner Mustafa Motiwala are two such examples..With these departures and recruitments, the firm now has five Partners including Managing Partner Vineet Aneja. The other partners are Rahul Beruar, Sumeet Lall, Mustafa Motiwala, and Mohit Sharma. The firm also has two Associate Partners, namely Jay Joshi and Ashwin Sapra.