The Company

Nishith Desai Associates (NDA) is a research based international law firm with offices in Mumbai, Bangalore, Silicon Valley and Singapore. It specialises in strategic legal, regulatory and tax advice coupled with industry expertise in an integrated manner. It focuses on niche areas in which they provide significant value and is invariably involved in select highly complex, innovative transactions which require “critical surgery”.

Core practice areas include cross-border transactions, fund structuring and investments, mergers & acquisitions, international tax, dispute resolution, corporate & securities law, competition law, employment law and intellectual property law. It's specialised industry niches include financial services, IT and telecom, education, pharma and life sciences, media and entertainment, real estate and infrastructure.

The research oriented approach of the firm has led to the team members being recognised and felicitated for thought leadership. Consecutively for the fourth year in 2009, NDAites have won the global competition for dissertations at the International Bar Association. Nishith Desai, founder of Nishith Desai Associates, has been voted ‘External Counsel of the Year 2009’ by Asian Counsel and Pacific Business Press as well as named one of the ‘Most In Demand Practitioners’ by Chambers Asia 2009. He has also been ranked No. 28 in a global Top 50 'Gold List' by Tax Business, a UK-based journal for the international tax community.

Nishith Desai Associates strongly believes in constant knowledge expansion and has developed dynamic knowledge management (KM) and continuing education (CE) programs, conducted both in-house and for select invitees. KM and CE programs cover key events, global and national trends as they unfold and examine case studies, debate and analyse emerging legal, regulatory and tax issues, serving as an effective forum for cross pollination of ideas.

The firm is a trust-based, non-hierarchical, democratically managed organisation that leverages research and knowledge to deliver premium services, high value, and a unique employer proposition. It has now been developed into a global case study published by John Wiley & Sons, USA in a feature titled ‘Management by Trust in a Democratic Enterprise: A Law Firm Shapes Organizational Behavior to Create Competitive Advantage’ in the September 2009 issue of Global Business and Organizational Excellence (GBOE).

Range of Services

The expertise of Nishith Desai Associates lies in cross border transactions in the areas of:
- Capital Markets
- Corporate and Securities
- Employment and Human Resources
- Fund Formation
- Fund Investment and Real Estate Investment
- Intellectual Property
- International Taxation (including Succession and Estate Planning)
- Litigation and Arbitration
- Mergers and Acquisitions

Accolades

- Legal 500 2009/10: Tier 1 for Technology-Media-Telecommunications; Tax; and Funds Investment
- Chambers and Partners 2009: Among the ‘Most In-Demand Practitioners’
- PLC Which Lawyer? 2009: Leading firm for Tax and Highly recommended for Capital Markets
- Financial Times-RSG Consulting survey of Indian law firms: Ranked highest on ‘Quality’
- Asian Legal Business: ‘Top 10 Firms to Watch in 2009’