ALMT Legal has voted for South Mumbai and taken on an extra 50 per cent of floor space in Mumbai’s busy Express Towers building, to make room for future expansion.

The firm currently occupies 7,500 square feet on the office block’s fourth floor but is fitting out around 4,000 square feet of floor space on the building’s 12th floor.

The firm expects to move in by 1 April 2010.

“It makes absolute sense for us to expand here rather than move North,” said ALMT co-founding partner Sameer Tapia, contrasting the strategy against the recent moves to North Mumbai of law firms such as Khaitan & Co and Trilegal.

He added: “Obviously [Express Towers] is the most prestigious building in Nariman Point and obviously it overlooks the sea, unlike Lower Parel offices which don’t have a sea view.”

Tapia said that South Mumbai was also more convenient and nearer to the courts.

The firm currently has around 40 lawyers and eight to nine partners based in Express Towers and the additional floor would enable it to create more space for existing teams and expand with lateral hires, added Tapia.

DSK Legal occupies the other side of Express Towers’s (pictured) fourth floor, while AZB & Partners is based on the 23rd floor.