Dhir & Dhir Associates promotes 5 Principal Associates to Associate Partnership

Dhir & Dhir Associates recently announced the addition of six Associate Partners to the firm across various verticals. Out of the six new promotions, five were Principal Associates within the firm while the sixth is a lateral hire. The promotions are effective from August 4, 2013.

Two Principal Associates from the Litigation team, Sachin Gupta and Jayshree Shukhla have been promoted to Associate Partner while Principal Associate Sandeep Gupta from the Corporate Restructuring and Insolvency team has also been promoted.

The other two Principal Associates who have been promoted are Santosh Pandey from the Infrastructure practice and Girish Rawat from Banking Finance & Capital Market. The sixth new Associate Partner, Bibhakar Mishra is a lateral hire. Mishra, who has over two decades of litigation and arbitration experience, will be working in the Arbitration and Dispute Resolution practice.

In the press release, Managing Partner Alok Dhir has said that, “It is of the greatest importance to promote and grow the talent within the firm.”

Speaking to Bar & Bench, the firm’s CEO Manju Mohotra (who moved to the firm last year) said that the latest promotions are one of several steps the firm is taking to increase the firm’s efficiency. “Last year, for instance, I came abroad as CEO,” says Manju, “and the thought process behind this was to get the firm more professional.”

Manju explained that promotions to the level of Associate Partner were made by a Committee of eight individuals, with each individual participating in the decision making process. There is also a appraisal system put into place which monitors the performance of lawyers throughout the year. The promotions are based on a number of factors. “Legal expertise is of course the core consideration,” says Manju, “but we are also looking at factors such as conferences attended, papers written etc. The latest promotions are part of the expansion plans of the firm. In order to manage the exponential growth, we are hiring partners laterally and also promoting the talent from within”