TMT Law Practice, a boutique telecom, media and technology advisory law firm, and New Delhi-based DPSA Legal have decided to merge their practices to form law firm Arthe Law.
DPSA Legal is a full-service law firm founded by DP Singh, a former additional advocate general of Punjab and Haryana, in January 2012. TMT Law, founded by Abhishek Malhotra in 2009, has two offices and affiliates in seven cities. Singh and Malhotra confirmed the merger.
Malhotra will be the managing partner of the merged firm while Singh will be the senior partner. Arthe Law will have six partners and around 40 lawyers, two people aware of the development said.
“An obvious benefit of a merger such as ours is the business advantage – access to a larger team, bench strength for big matters, added practice area expertise, and cross-leveraging the client base, among other things,†Malhotra said.
Singh said they have created a governance model with a clear demarcation of responsibilities and delegation of management roles among all the partners for smooth decision-making.
Mergers among law firms in India have been few and far between.
“Well thought-out mergers in the Indian legal space are rare and consequently success is difficult to predict,†said a Delhi-based consultant who advises law firms on their strategies.
Of late, however, some mid-size law firms have been looking to merge with firms having similar practice areas or with operations in different locations.
Last month, Aseem Chawla, founder and managing partner of ASC Legal, merged his boutique tax law firm with Phoenix Legal.
In April 2016, Delhi-based Alpha Partners had decided to merge with Seth Dua & Associates. In 2015, New Delhi-based intellectual property rights-focused boutique law firm LexOrbis acquired law firm Inolyst’s IPR practice in Bangalore.
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