Bangalore-headquartered firm Universal Legal has opened a Mumbai office with one partner and two associates in the Mahalaxmi area.

Bangalore corporate partner Sharanya G (pictured) relocated to Mumbai earlier this year and will now head up the new office of 600 square feet, which will be large enough to house up to 10 staff.

The office currently includes one Universal Legal associate who moved from Bangalore and one fresh law school graduate with a litigation background.

Sharanya said: "Bombay has been on the radar of the firm and we have been trying to open up in Bombay for a while, being the commercial hub of the country."

"Right now we have a very small team," she said and added: "We have and are also looking at actively recruiting more people and the work flow has already started."

The Mumbai office will be focussing mainly on corporate work, although Sharanya also has experience in real estate, IP and infrastructure work.

She joined Universal Legal in 2005 and was elevated to partner in January 2009.

Universal Legal managing partner Partha Mandal said: "We will do whatever comes our way [in Mumbai] - more of corporate, real estate and presently we already have a couple of litigation matters."

"There was always a need for the clients to have a presence in Bombay, which is a tough competitive market so we took some time to plan," he added.

The new office is located across from Mumbai's Mahalaxmi Racecourse.

Universal Legal hired Luthra & Luthra senior associate Kapil Arora in October as a partner to head up its one-year-old Delhi office.

The firm has a close best friend relationship with US-based The Chugh Firm.