Although the law office was established in 1997 with three employees, Gandhi and Associates has transformed itself into a leading professional law firm with the capability to provide all kinds of legal services and consultancy to international investors and companies interested in Nepal.

A Nepal gets globalised, Gandhi and Law Associates looks up to becoming an established and professional law firm of global standards. With a mix of people, from seasoned and experienced to young and dynamic, in the staff, Gandhi and Associates has started to provide all kinds of legal services.

Founded by Attorney at Law Gandhi Pandit, who studied at Columbia University, most of the clients of Gandhi and Associates are foreign investors with their portfolio management of upto to 2.5 billion dollars.

“I started the firm during my corporate law practice. My focus was not on litigation because I was trying to establish a law firm to serve the corporate sector, something that was lacking in Nepal at that time,” said founder Pandit.

“I got the inspiration and contact to work with the multinational and national corporate houses. I was contacted earlier by ADB and the World Bank. I also worked as ADB consultant in the financial sector reform and corporate law and the project's aim was to establish judicial academy to support in drafting the secured transaction law and security law and conducting the judges in the commercial law areas,” said lawyer Pandit.

Vision of Company

The vision of the firm is to provide an international level professional legal services. Delivering the service in Nepal in competition with international practice and delivering the service to the Nepali society, Gandhi and Associates has been widening its network. "We are ready to provide services through our dedicated and professional lawyers to foreign investors who come to Nepal to invest in various sectors like infrastructure and hydropower,” the company sources said.

When a foreign investor comes to Nepal for investment, what it requires is a good team of lawyers, this is what Gandhi and Associates claims it has. With a team of 20 lawyers, Gandhi and Law Associates has its branch offices in Pokhara and Butwal and it is expanding its services in other major cities.

Gandhi and Associates has created a team of lawyers who are specialized in various areas from conducting legal diligence to providing legal opinion and preparing the legal documents to lead litigation as well so that foreign clients, who need service from one point, get a quality service. Investors don’t have to worry about the things, including the taxes and so on.

“When you are talking about globalization of law practice, we specialize not only on Nepal but also on other countries as well. We provide the services to the clients as per their requirements. We also visit other countries to provide legal services. We are also hiring international lawyers so that we can understand how international lawyers are working,” said Pandit.

Although most of its clients are foreigners, Gandhi and Associates is slowly going to the domestic market as well. “There are also good prospects in the domestic market, there are banks, insurance companies and big houses. All the business houses are modernizing. However, their method of hiring the lawyers is still traditional. They are gradually realizing the value of true corporate legal service,” said Pandit.

Gandhi and Associates also wants to transform Nepal’s legal system by providing world class legal services from one place. "We want to be a role model in Nepal. We do hard work and learn from the knowledge and experience of foreign lawyers and foreign law offices. We do visit of foreign law firms to learn how they operate and provide services to international clients and corporate practices. We try to transform Nepal’s corporate law firm. The country requires that kind of a law firm in the coming years."

There will be the need to have competent lawyers in the completive market.  "We are providing our services to international clients, domestic clients and government and public enterprises also."

In Gandhi and Associates, there are four departments. They include Corporate Consulting Service Department, which is headed by former secretary Raju Man Malla, Litigation Department which is headed by Keshab Prasad Mainali, former chief judge of Appellate Court. Before joining the Court, he was renowned lawyer in Pokhara and another Department is NGOs and INGOs headed by Madan Prasad Rimal, who served more than twenty five years in Social Welfare Council. The firm provides development and legal service for NGOs and INGOs. Fourth Department is Corporate, Compliances and Joint Venture which is headed by young advocate Shikhar Pandit, who completed his law degree from United Kingdom.

Specialized in the areas of foreign investment, joint venture, company law, security services, immigration, matrimonial, including divorce,  review of bigger type of contracts in infrastructure projects, project financing, legal advice and consultations on who want to invest and any conciliatory services required by clients in a holistic manner.

Details of the firm: Gandhi and Associates, Sahayogi Marg, Anamnagar-32, and Kathmandu, Nepal P.O.Box 4058 Tel (977-1-4102880, 4102888) Mobile: 977-9851035844. Email: lawgandhi@lawgandhi.com