Anand and Anand merging with Khimani in Mumbai

Intellectual property (IP) boutique Anand and Anand will merge its practice in Mumbai with Khimani & Associates from 1 July. The merged firm will be called “Anand and Anand & Khimani”.

Anand and Anand is a full-service IP firm managed by a partnership board comprising 23 partners and four directors, supported by a management team comprising a CEO, CFO and CIO. The firm currently employs more than 300 people, including over 100 qualified lawyers and engineers.

Khimani & Associates is an eight-member Mumbai-based media and entertainment law firm. It was launched in 2014 by Priyanka Khimani, who worked previously for two years at Mulla & Mulla & Craigie Blunt & Caroe.

Khimani had not always planned on pursuing a career in law. At 15, she had written her first television show and performed in professional Marathi theatre with established actors, as well as in Hindi street theatre. She went on to study biotechnology at Jai Hind College and continued writing and directing television shows in her spare time. Following this, she studied law at Government Law College with a view to combining her knowledge of biotechnology with an understanding of intellectual property.

While working as an associate with Mulla & Mulla, she landed legendary Indian singer Lata Mangeshkar as a client. Other celebrity clients soon followed. Khimani decided to go solo after a disagreement with the firm’s handling of a case between two singers – Sonu Nigam and Mika Singh – relating to personality rights. Khimani felt the firm could obtain damages for its client, Nigam, and so should not have settled for an ex parte injunction.

Nigam and Mangeshkar followed Khimani when she launched her own firm and she soon attracted a string of other Indian celebrity clients.