Full-service law firm IndusLaw is set to acquire Banguluru-based real-estate and dispute resolution law firm ASLF, making it over 50 partners and about 350 lawyers law firms.
Founded by Anup S Shah, ASLF specialises in real-estate practice including transactions, due diligence, structuring of real estate transactions, foreign investment in the sector, litigation, alternate dispute resolution/arbitrations and strategic planning of the real estate.
The entire team of ASLF including all four partners R Sunitha, KN Geetha, Kempe Gowda and K Vivekanand are joining along with their team of 38 lawyers and additional support staff of 22 people.
“With this acquisition, IndusLaw gains an increased foothold in South India,” said Suneeth Katarki, founding partner of IndusLaw. “It will help us create a niche in the premium Real Estate space and further cement our Dispute Resolution practice.”
Currently, apart from Bengaluru, IndusLaw has offices in Mumbai, New Delhi and Hyderabad, however, with this acquisition, the firm also gets entry into the Chennai market.
Apart from Bengaluru, IndusLaw has offices in Mumbai, New Delhi and Hyderabad, however, with this acquisition, the firm also gets entry into the Chennai market.
“I am sure this will enhance the overall client-serving capabilities at IndusLaw,” said Anup Shah, Founding Partner, ASLF
According to Aneesh Patnaik, VP of Litigation and Practice Acquisition at legal search firm Vahura, “the market-leading real estate practice of ASLF perfectly compliments IndusLaw’s highly rated corporate and litigation practices. This is a strategic development where a full-service firm such as IndusLaw is bolstering the firm through the acquisition of a specialist practice area. “We are seeing more firms make such moves to expand in either new practice areas or geographies,” said Aneesh of Vahura, who advised on this acquisition.
Earlier in January, Mumbai-based boutique litigation law firm Taurus Legal has merged its practice with over six-and-a-half-decade-old litigation and corporate advisory law firm Dhruve Liladhar & Co
As the new practice areas are emerging and India Inc is expected to witness more litigation due to the pandemic and subsequent lockdown related defaults, law firms are ramping up their practices keeping in mind future workflow.
During the fiscal year March 2021, the combined legal cost of all the companies was about Rs 36,973.75 crore, a marginal decline of 1.67% compared to a year ago period due to pandemic and subsequent lockdown. However, this is expected to improve now due to growing business activities such as M&A, fund-raising, IPOs as well as litigation and dispute resolution.