Shardul Shroff, Delhi-based managing partner of Amarchand Mangaldas who is expected to begin competing with his brother and co-managing partner Cyril Shroff by next month, today signed a lease for around 25,000 square feet of office space in what will soon be AZB & Partners’ former Mumbai office, according to an authoritative source.

The iconic office space in Nariman Point’s Express Towers building on the top floor floor will be the headquarters of Shardul Shroff’s Mumbai operations, alongside a smaller litigation office in the Fort area and a smaller pre-existing office in the Prabhadevi area, as first reported last month.

We have reached out to Shardul Shroff for comment.

The mediation between the brothers that will result in the break-up of the firm, was hoped by both to conclude today to coincide with Akshaya Tritiya, a particularly auspicious day in the Hindu calendar. However, the end of mediation was yesterday pushed to 1 May again, as planned after several earlier postponements.

AZB & Partners is due to move out of its office on Express Towers’ 23rd and 24th floors to mid-town’s Peninsula Corporate Park in Lower Parel after the first week of May.