Senior litigation and arbitration practitioners are leaving the security and scale of large law firms to establish independent chambers and boutique disputes practices, betting that a growing number of clients will value specialist advocacy, flexibility, a better cost structure and no-conflict situation over full-service firms.
In recent months, more than half a dozen senior lawyers have left established practices to strike out on their own, marking an acceleration in the significant shift.
Last week, Kshama A Loya, formerly a partner at Dentons Link Legal, launched a specialist arbitration chamber in Mumbai. In April, Poornima Hatti retired from Samvad Partners to set up her own counsel practice in Bengaluru. Others include Abhirup Dasgupta, who left HSA Advocates; Malak Bhatt, who left NM Law Chambers; and Anoopam N Prasad, who left Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co to set up their own chambers in Delhi.
In December 2025, Amit Vyas, co-founder of Vertices Partners, left the firm to start Vedanta Law Chambers, a boutique dispute-resolution advisory in Mumbai.
The departures, across geographical locations and practice areas, have a common thread.
For senior litigators, striking out on their own offers what a law firm partnership cannot: the ability to pick up matters without the worry of conflicts with other partners or teams, sharper focus and the independence to create a practice around specialist expertise rather than the firm’s interests. For many, the decision comes down to more than just professional ambition.
“Chamber practice allows counsel to appear in a range of matters and not necessarily focus on one specific area. In a law firm, the management and running of the firm is an important, complex and yet time-consuming role, particularly for senior partners,” said Poornima Hatti.
A key factor is that lawyers see the move as an opportunity for contributing value to high-stakes, complex disputes as independent practitioners alongside law firms advising clients. “It was the right time to utilise a deep understanding of legal issues emerging due to rapid changes in business models, government regulations and applicable laws globally, along with the advancement of oral arguments before courts and tribunals to achieve commercial objectives of clients,” said Vyapak Desai, who quit Nishith Desai Associates to start an eponymous chamber practice last year. Market conditions also favour independent chambers. With about 50 million cases pending in various courts and counting, demand for conflict-free, focused dispute chambers is only bound to increase.
Vijayendra Pratap Singh, senior partner at law firm AZB & Partners, said the trend of law firm partners moving out and starting their own chambers is related to a rise in transactional complexity and an increase in the number of specialised regulatory tribunals. “We may witness more such examples in the near future, where partners or veteran lawyers in dispute resolution teams are moving out to start their chamber practice,” said Singh. Experts say that for law firms, it is a time of reckoning if they want to retain such talent. “Law firms may have to realign their business models to consider autonomy to litigation practising teams, including flexibility in taking briefs on non-firm mandates or appearance in court and participation in thought leadership, among other things,” said an expert.
