Chawla, who joined ELP in 2008 from Moser Baer where he was in-house counsel for three years after two years at Kochhar & Co, will start at ALMT from tomorrow (1 June).

He said: “Being a practitioner of corporate laws for the past fifteen years, it will be a great opportunity for me to be a part of ALMT which has carved out a niche for itself in the corporate, commercial advisory and tax practice.

“Keeping this perspective in mind, I am looking forward to expanding the horizons of ALMT's corporate practice in Delhi.”

Chawla graduated from Delhi University and has also worked at the Taj group of hotels and ITC.

ALMT senior partner Aliff Fazelbhoy added: “The firm has had a steady growth in recent years and expanding our presence in Delhi is a natural step for us to take. Delhi has a lot of potential and we are keen to have a much focussed corporate practice.”

“In future, we wish to increase our pan-India presence and promote/hire more deserving lawyers to partnership.”

ALMT opened its Delhi office less than a year ago.

ELP was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press.