Khaitan fans - Bijal & Siddharth
One of the early members to join NDA in the mid 1990s was a family friend of Nishithbhai. His name was Siddharth Shah, affectionately known as Sid. Sid was actually an engineer, and was a bit lost about what to do in life, when Nishithbhai managed to convince him to join NDA.
Sid, even though did not have a formal legal training, picked up the ropes really fast, and became a key member of the funds practice at NDA, which boomed as more and more funds entered India. He also developed a strong expertise in the Real Estate vertical, and became a sought after name among the clients.
Bijal Ajinkya joined NDA at the turn of the century. She was bright lawyer and Nishithbhai immense saw potential in her. She was a Gujju to boot and a lady – NDA has always had an above average gender ratio (and a completely skewed regional ratio). Bijal worked very closely with Nishithbhai on the Azadi Bachao Andolan case, the case that Nishithbhai holds like a medal or a trophy, and which really provided his discovery, i.e. the Mauritius Route the judicial stamp of approval. Working on this Azadi Bachao Andolan case provided a boost to Bijal’s career at NDA like nothing else could, and she became a leading lawyer in the firm in a very short span of time. Of course, when Shefali Goradi quit in 2008, Bijal became the number two in the International Tax practice at NDA (after NMD of course) at a very young age.
According to the NDA grapevine, Bijal and Sid developed a liking for each other and there were signs that they were having an affair. Whatever, it may have been, in 2012, they decided to quit NDA. Just like the departure of Shef, this was a shock and a setback for Nishithbhai. Bijal & Sid quit NDA in early 2013. While many had expected that they would set up their own practice, given the goodwill and name they had earned among the NDA clientele in their areas of expertise, both of them ended up joining one the largest law firms – Khaitan & Co. This meant that Khaitan & Co could now provide strong competition to NDA in two areas which were NDA’s sweet spots. This also meant loss of clients for NDA.
Nishithbhai scrambled to put new leaders in place of Bijal and Sid, but they were not of the same calibre, especially in the areas that Bijal & Sid were heading. Over a period of time, NDA has been able to develop new leaders such as Richie Sancheti, Ruchir Sinha etc., but has had tough time retaining such folks. Once such a professional grows to a certain level, he/she starts feeling suffocated at the firm, because Nishithbhai has never embraced a true partnership model. NDA has always been Nishith Desai AND associates. Only the die-hard chamchas of Nishithbhai, most of them family friends, have stuck around, but their quality is suspect.
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