Krishnamurthy and Co, which is branded as K Law, has opened up a new Delhi office and moved into a larger Mumbai office, as well as setting up an expansion path in Chennai and commencing construction on a larger Bangalore office.

Krishnamurthy and Co has taken space in Delhi’s Defence Colony area for its new office, which is headed by senior associate Abhishek Seth who was hired by the firm from E&Y. Two Krishnamurthy and Co Bangalore associates also shifted to Delhi for personal reasons and are now working in the new office.

Krishnamurthy and Co has also moved into a larger Mumbai office in Nariman Point’s Free Press Journal building with 2,500 square feet of space for between 35 to 40 people.

The firm’s founding partner Naina Krishna Murthy, who set up the Mumbai office only around one-and-a-half years ago, said that Mumbai was currently around 20 lawyers strong and was catching up fast with the original head office in Bangalore of around 35 lawyers.

“I’ve told every office you’ve got to compete with each other, that’s the only way to have incentive to keep growing and not get complacent,” she said. “I told Abhishek [Seth in Delhi], when I went to Bombay and had to do the whole thing again that I did in Bangalore, I want the Delhi office to be the same. And he was excited about it and said, yes I like to be challenged.”

Naina Krishna Murthy started up Krishnamurthy and Co in Bangalore in 1999, which now consists of a total of around 60 lawyers including three partners.

Bangalore-based partner Nikhil Krishnamurthy said that in around six to eight months the firm would move into a new head office in Bangalore’s Central Business District near MG Road. “It is presently being constructed and once that’s in place we should have space for around 80 to 90 lawyers,” he said.

In Chennai meanwhile, said Naina Krishna Murthy, the she was looking to turn the office from a “back-office” to which not much time had been devoted to date into a full-service practice and its own profit centre. “Now we are growing it very, very aggressively. We have already had one [litigation] person who has joined this week and we are hoping to hire a good corporate lawyer in the coming weeks and an IP attorney.”

“There is a certain challenge in doing business in Chennai,” she admitted, noting that many firms had entered Chennai with only limited success. “But I’m quite confident that we can do it.”

Naina Krishna Murthy said that while the firm started with just a corporate commercial practice, she was now hoping to mirror the four vertical also including intellectual property, real estate and litigation in all offices, as well as promote additional partners by next year.

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