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TMT’s hyperspeed expansion continues: Opens in Mumbai, Lucknow with integrated & referral models

Malhotra: Running into right people and opening offices like no tomorrow
Malhotra: Running into right people and opening offices like no tomorrow

TMT opened offices in Mumbai and Lucknow this month, taking its total tally of offices to nine – four out of which were set up in the last three months.

TMT’s Mumbai offices, like its offices in Delhi, Bangalore, Mysore and Kolkata, has retained lawyers of the firm.

The Lucknow office shares a referral arrangement with the TMT partnership, just like its Ahmedabad and Chennai office.

TMT’s ninth stop – Bhubaneshwar – runs out of one retained lawyer’s home.

TMT managing partner Abhishek Malhotra commented: “Bombay we’ve been looking for a very long time now because we have lots of media work. Finally [we] found a very young resource.”

The firm has added Amity Delhi 2013 alumnus Divya Verma as a managing associate, to head its office in Andheri West, Mumbai, and is in the process of hiring a fresher level associate for that office. It also has a litigation office in Fort, Mumbai.

“Lucknow is a mix of two things – there is a potential that we see for greater amount of business maybe not immediately but in the future, and then it’s a relationship with Aparajita [Bansal].”

Aparajita Bansal, who joins TMT as a partner, was practicing independently, and brings a team of three lawyers who were part of her practice, to TMT. She did her LLB from Lucknow university and has over 10 years of litigation experience at the Allahabad high court. She operates from Gomti Nagar where the Lucknow address of TMT is.

“I think the challenges [of having offices in several cities] are going to be possibly faced this year or the year after. Of the seven which have been added four have been in the last three months”, commented Malhotra adding: “as between partners of the firm we have divided the day to day supervision and the thought process in terms of how to take business forward in these offices.”

“Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Bangalore are cities where there is reasonable amount of work. The reason why we looked at Mysore, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneshwar, Lucknow was because we found the right people in these places – the right resources to tie up with,” he said.

Think different

“One has to think slightly differently if you’ve to make a mark. The regular practice areas - both on account of litigation as well as corporate - we do offer those practice areas anyhow but if we have to make a name for ourselves and get better or bigger quality work then we have to think differently than an established name.”

He said that TMT’s Bhubhaneshwar office served as “more of a office to address a lot of issues [such as] execution work in terms of drafting, writing, reaching out to specific sectors”.

“A micro example – what Amarchand or Luthra does is take on bigger clients in terms of shareholders agreement or advisory or restructuring work which we’re anyhow doing. A lot of the big ticket corporate transactions, we’re doing that at a micro level with start ups. We do offer that service. Apart from our strength in litigation which is primarily in IP, media and broadcasting we’re doing corporate litigation also.”

But the “differentiator” in TMT’s strategy was its smaller regional offices catering to niche practices such as aerospace, defence production, mining and medicine.

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