Khaitan & Co is preparing to virtually welcome its fresh hires from the batch of 2020 on October 1 this year, after a delay of three months owing to the COVID-19 pandemic..Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas will also be starting virtual inductions around Diwali, as per a reliable source from within the firm..Both firms had rescheduled the joining dates for all fresh hires to October 2020 due to the pandemic..Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas has already started the induction of freshers in a staggered manner.Commenting on this development, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas Partner Shweta Shroff Chopra said,"Freshers have begun to join and will continue to join in a staggered manner until October, based on the teams they are in. We remain committed to their growth and development and wish them a long and successful career with us." .Speaking on the decision to get the freshers on board virtually, Khaitan & Co Executive Director Amar Sinhji said,“Our campus batch usually joins in July every year. Our batch of 2020 consists of 48 freshers from 19 law colleges across the country.This year, given the exceptional circumstances around the pandemic-induced lockdown and the uncertainties with regard to offices being able to return to normal operations, we had decided to push back the freshers' joining date to October 2020.In line with our commitment to take our campus freshers on board, they will all join us in October.".He further said, "The firm will honour every offer that was made on campus.We are ready with a virtual induction and orientation for the full batch and of course also a welcome befitting our young future leaders! The campus hires are a key entry-level addition to our long term talent pipeline.”.All of Khaitan's offices are open, albeit with very limited support infrastructure. The firm has given the option of work from home to all its members until the end of December 2020.Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas is also continuing its work from home policy for all lawyers across its offices. It’s working very smoothly for the firm.They have been assessing the situation month by month..Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas too continues with its 'Work from Home' policy, which has been a big success for the firm. Shroff commented,"We are reviewing the situation regularly and currently do not have any immediate plans of resuming work from office. Any decision to resume working from office cannot be at the cost of the safety of our people, which remains our priority. On a related note, WFH has been a big success for us, with several big ticket deals and high stakes litigations having been undertaken from people’s home desks."
