February 2017

, The Leading Light in the Indian Legal Industry ALMT Legal is a dynamic and full service Indian lawfirm that provides high quality Indian expertise with an international capability. We invited Kruti Desai to talk us through the firm and the range of expert services it provides. With approximately 100 lawyers and 23 partners across offices in strategic commercial centres like Mumbai and Bangalore, ALMT has an established reputation as one of India’s top bracket firms. Kruti discusses the work the firm undertakes and the clients it supports. “ALMT’s practice areas encompass all aspects of Indian law ranging from corporate, commercial to tax, employment, dispute resolution, property, IPR, shipping, aviation and even immigration law. Our clients include retail giants like Pavers England, to large cap pharma companies like Allergan Healthcare, property developers, investment funds (Indian and foreign), IT companies and various multinational corporate having their head offices in USA, Europe and the Middle East, apart from Indian clients e.g. Capgemini, AMP Capital, Credit Suisse Trust, Societe Genrale Bank & Trust, Hyundai Engineering & Construction, CDC Group, Barclays Bank, MSC Software Corporation, Wockhardt Limited, Compass Group, Exova Group Plc, etc. “The firm consists of lawyers from various cultural backgrounds who share a common passion for law. This has resulted in a diverse environment in which ideas are freely exchanged and career development is a consistent and continuous process. We have subdivided our firm into two primary verticals i.e. corporate law and litigation. Our lawyers are therefore given the opportunity to work with different partners in various areas of law, within their respective verticals. This enables our lawyers to expand their knowledge base as well as narrow down the areas they would eventually like to specialise in.” Kruti’s expertise is in corporate and employment law, and she has gained a vast amount of experience over her career which enables her to offer the very best service to her clients, as she discusses. “Personally, I have over eleven years of experience in advising both Indian and international clients on corporate and employment laws. Over the course of my career, I have had extensive experience in handling complicated legal issues relating to exchange control laws, labour laws, data privacy laws, winding up of companies and corporate restructuring. However, my primary areas of specialisation are private equity investments, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions. “This varied experience has enabled me to advise clients in a well-rounded manner that takes into consideration all possible legal implications of the transaction at hand. This has resulted in me having a consistent track record in successfully protecting my clients’ interests and limiting their exposure. The most important aspects of my approach are: understanding the client’s requirements; being extremely responsive; focusing on quality (rather than quantity) of the deliverables; quick turnaround of matters; conducting in depth research on the legal aspects of the matter; providing solution oriented and pragmatic advice. “Currently I am handling various insolvency matters where I had the opportunity to act as a voluntary liquidator for three companies. These matters are still ongoing. Further, due to my specialisation in corporate and commercial law, I was seconded to the London office of an English law firm for a period of 6 months. During this period, I was involved in numerous cross border corporate transactions and assisted in advising clients from around the globe.” Looking to the future, the Government of India is in the process of opening up the Indian legal market. The will enable foreign lawyers and law firms to open offices in India and advise clients on Indian law. This move will enhance competition in the legal sector. However, due to ALMT’s focus on excellence, the firm’s legal services are already at par with global standards and healthy competition is always welcome, as Kruti concludes. “Moving forward, our aim is to focus on consolidating and developing our existing practice areas to the maximum extent possible. We are also looking at expanding the firm and growing in terms of size to meet the demands of new clients and matters in order to build upon our current success. With the introduction of the newly enacted Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 as well as the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 we intend to further develop our practice in insolvency matters, real estate along with competition law, media and entertainment.” “Moving forward, our aim is to focus on consolidating and developing our existing practice areas.”