Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas moved into its now-renovated 23rd, 24th and 17th floors of its Express Towers offices late last month.
The firm’s Mumbai managing partner Akshay Chudasama, who officially joined Shardul Amarchand on 25 May 2015, confirmed that the Mumbai office had been based in the Nariman Point-based Express Towers since opening in the city and that the firm had leased the 23rd and half of the 24th and 17th floors in the building.
While those three floors were still being renovated, the firm’s new office was based on other floors in the building temporarily.
Chudasama said that the current headcount was around 80 lawyers in Mumbai, though the new offices had seating space for a total of 140.
Shardul Amarchand had entered into two lease agreements with Indian Express Newspapers (Mumbai) Pvt Ltd last year via two partners – Shardul Shroff and Akshay Chudasama.
The first was entered into by Shardul Shroff, while the second agreement was entered into by Mumbai managing partner Chudasama on September 15, according to the contract available with the local property registry.
24th half-floor
The first leave and license agreement was signed on 23 July for an area of 8,668 square feet on the 24th floor of the building, which Legally India understands is around half the available space on that floor.
It is a five-year lease with a monthly rental of Rs 15.169 lakh for the first 36 months (three years) and thereafter a 15 per cent increase in the rental costs for the next 24 months (two years).
The deposit paid for this deal was Rs 65.79 lakh, according to the agreement.
The signatories to this deal are Dhillon Pereira of the Express Group, and Shardul Shroff. The stamp duty paid for this deal is Rs 2.5 lakh.
23rd floor
The later lease agreement was signed for a space of 16,572 square feet.
The monthly rental for this was around Rs 29 lakh.
The deposit for the deal was roughly Rs 1.26 crore.
Pereira remained the signatory on this deal from the Express group, while for Shardul Amarchand the signatory was Chudasama.
The stamp duty paid for the deal was Rs 5.53 lakh.
Legally India did not have access to the papers for half of the 17th floor, but if rates are similar as for the 24th floor, that would work out to a monthly rent of at least Rs 59 lakh, and a total deposit of at least Rs 2.56 crore.
Shardul Amarchand in Mumbai also has a litigation office in the Fort area’s Lentin Chambers, near the Bombay high court.
Express Towers had seen an exodus of law firms to mid-town in recent years, with AZB & Partners having been the most recent to move out of the iconic building to Lower Parel, following DSK Legal in 2010.
ALMT Legal remains in Express Towers, having secured additional floors in recent years.
The original partnership firm Amarchand Mangaldas Suresh A Shroff & Co was dissolved on 9 May 2015, with both erstwhile Amarchand Mangaldas managing partners and Shroff brothers setting up new, independent firms.
Shardul launched his firm on May 10, while Cyril Shroff launched his new firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas a day later on May 11.
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Either Chudasama is way off or Zia was running a sweat shop.... Well both could be true!
Whats new in this lease? Nothing exceptional. Its just another law firm in another commercial building paying top dollar or maybe not. Who cares? Lets see what they bring to the table.
Its LI which has obtained information from the lease deeds and posted here for everyone to see! Or are you just jealous and won't loose a single opportunity to bash!
Which table are you referring to? I assume nothing reached your table :)
This article was published since Bapu Deedwania painstakingly obtained the records for these leases.
I agree, it'd be great to do the same kind of data for other firms, though as I understand it, the property registry in Maharashtra can be slightly user-unfriendly and operate mostly in Marathi.
If any property lawyers want to give some advice on how best to go about it, do please share.
Other than that, I don't think the article is useless without comparative information, as it's a useful exercise in bringing more transparency into law firm finances, etc.
And as #13 says below, the investment by SAM in Mumbai is interesting for others in the industry.
Plus, I've given a few more reasons for why it's worth reading in our email newsletter from today: www.legallyindia.com/newsletters/long-expected-projects-parties-newsletter-issue-127
Place of office, rent and other expenses are relevant in expansion of new firms - which SAM and CAM are, despite the legacy.
If you don't like it - don't read it. Don't blame Kian.
And if you need a target to do so - go after times of india.
I will not tolerate this. Absolutely not.
As a follow-up, the firms I'd really be interested in seeing property papers for would be some of the old Bombay firms.
I hear some of them pay pittances in rent and can't be evicted by landlords including SBI or so in one case, which is an undoubted business advantage compared to other firms renting in India Bulls.
Though some of these low-rent offices also look like the landlord has stopped caring about maintenance :)
FYI
also for better view may I recommend the following places :
- gateway of india (beside the inside of the second pillar)
- Hotel Diana (Santa Cruz)
- 30 Cross Road, behind the banyan tree next to the Harley Showroom
Btw, Hotel Diana is run by ex gunman Bheem Paswan of the Shakeel faction. It is doing great profits over last 10 years having started from rags. Also an example of great leadership.
PS: Bheem Paswan is also in the same line as SS. He may do your job for a little less.
Views and leadership, in other context, there are many many far more better than the 3/4 that you have listed!
Cheers, buddy!
Just sounds like harmless banter to me, though I'm having a hard time making sense of what it even means.
Stupid!
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