Shroff brothers to fight it out for Amarchand Mangaldas

Amarchand Mangaldas, the largest Indian law firm, is facing a crisis of sorts with two of its managing partners and brothers - Shardul and Cyril Shroff - fighting over the ownership of the company.

Shardul Shroff, the Delhi-based elder brother has knocked on the doors of Bombay High Court to implement his late mother Bharti Shroff's will, which bequeaths 22 per cent stake in the company to him. Shardul filed a petition to this effect in the court on Friday.

Shardul and Cyril have about 17 per cent interest each in the firm. Bharti Shroff - who died three months ago - had willed entirely towards Shardul. This has led to the dispute over the ownership of the firm, which has about 700 lawyers and 86 partners, say legal sources.

Currently, the work between Shardul and Cyril is equally distributed with both managing the operation of the Delhi and Mumbai centres, respectively. The will is also being perceived as a breach of a Family Framework Agreement (FFA) that was signed in 2001. This entailed equal distribution of Bharti Shroff's interest in the firm between the brothers. This FFA had been the core to the partnership understanding amongst the brothers since 2001 throughout its expansion.

In an effort to give effect to the FFA post his mother's death, Cyril decided to distribute the units equally between Shardul and himself. It was also ratified by the managing committee at the firm in Mumbai. But it did not go well with Shardul, who took the matter to the court. Bharucha & Partners is appearing for Shardul while Federal & Rashmikant is representing Cyril and the other respondents.

As per the Bombay HC filings, there is a notice of motion and a declaratory suit, both under the Code of Civil Procedure, with the reference Shardul Suresh Shroff vs Cyril Suresh Shroff, Vandana Vyril Shroff, L Viswanathan, James Abraham, George Goulding, Ashwin Maheshwari and the firm Amarchand and Mangaldas and Suresh Shroff and Co.

There is also a petition filed by Shardul for probate under Section 5 of the Indian Succession Act (Law regulating succession to deceased person's immovable and moveable property, respectively), against the estate of his late mother.

While Viswanathan is a Mumbai-based equity partner and management committee member, Maheshwari is the firm's chief financial officer (CFO), as per website LegallyIndia.com.

Goulding and Abraham are respectively former partners at UK law firm Slaughter and May and consultancy BCG, who are both part of the firm's management committee as independent members who commit at least 40 days per year to help in managing the firm.

"The matter is subjudice and I would not like to talk about it. The day to day working of this great institution shall remain unaffected. Our clients, people and matters are and remain our first priority. They will continue to be dealt with in ordinary course,” said Cyril Shroff, managing partner, Amarchand Mangaldas.