DSK Legal will merge with 15-lawyer Bangalore litigation and real estate firm AKS Law Associates on 1 April, hoping also to ramp up the corporate offering to South India.

Ajesh Kumar, who will join DSK as a partner, started up AKS in 1999 and specialises primarily in litigation and real estate practice.

DSK managing partner Anand Desai said that DSK and AKS had been working together for roughly six years already, referring Bangalore work to Kumar.

“The main thing was to have an office and serve clients on a broader basis,” he told Legally India.

Kumar said that the foremost reason for joining DSK was the length of informal association and the personal comfort level, with a match on the way both firms approached clients and relationships. “The next progressive step was how do you take that to the next level and how do you give clients the opportunity to take that to the next level.”

“If you look at South India and opportunities, there is a lot of vacuum for a full service law firm,” added Kumar. “We’ll have to offer more services in terms of what DSK is doing in Mumbai and Delhi in terms of corporate law practice.”

Desai noted that DSK would use its Delhi and Mumbai corporate law expertise to assist Bangalore grow the practice area.

The merged firm’s office is based in the Ulsoor area in Bangalore, nearby Khaitan & Co’s and Dua Associates local offices.